Knocked Up
by audreyslove
Summary: For outlaw queen week day 2: Fake Relationships. Regina and Robin, an AU fanfic
1. Chapter 1

"You're…pregnant?"

"Eight weeks. It has a heartbeat."

She couldn't even look at him. She sat on the sofa with her arms crossed, swaying back and forth like she was on the edge of a panic attack.

"But I thought—"

"My doctor used the world 'miracle'. A god damned miracle. Lucky me." She stopped swaying back and forth only to bury her head in her hands and moan "God this is a mess."

"So that's why you've been feeling so sick?"

It was a dumb question, but he's still in a fog, he has no idea how to respond.

She nods faintly.

"How- how are you feeling? I mean, I mean feeling about all this?"

"It's…I don't need anything from you. I don't want anything from you. I just told you because, I feel like you should know."

It wasn't an answer to the question he asked, but it certainly answered the question he did not dare to ask. There was no polite way to ask whether he was the father. It certainly wasn't like they were exclusive. Hell, they were not even dating.

After nearly a decade of friendship, they had finally found themselves single at the same time, and had fallen into bed a few times. More than a few times. It was never planned.

The first time was a late night where he finally – finally – felt he could bash Graham. He had wanted to for years, but there are some unwritten rules for best friends, and not bashing one's significant other is definitely on that list.

When he called her to ask if she was going to David' barbecue that weekend, her voice kept breaking. She had tried to hide the fact she was crying that night, and he told himself he should not pry – she would share what she wanted when she wanted, and it wasn't his business to interfere. But he couldn't help asking her what was wrong. And then she tearfully admitted that Graham had left her. And it was truly over this time.

Robin insisted she come over, told her she didn't need to talk about it. They could just watch a movie and drink and order in. Hell, she could come in and yell at him, beat him, stare at the walls and refuse to interact with him – she could pretty much do anything but stay in her apartment alone, crying. That, he would not have.

They were midway through the second movie of the night (and second bottle of wine) when Regina opened up about where things had left off with Graham.

Ironically, Graham had told her the reason their relationship would not work was that he desperately wanted children of his own, and Regina could never give him that. He didn't see the point of getting emotionally invested when there was an end to this. He didn't want to adopt. He didn't want to try egg donors or surrogates. He wanted a baby of his with his wife, traditionally, and Regina could not provide that.

And as she admitted this to Robin that night, admitting it had happened weeks ago but she hadn't had the strength to tell anyone else (and everyone else would know at that damned barbecue), as she cried into her wine (there was so much wine that night, 3 bottles at least at this point), Robin reminded her that Graham was not good enough for her, anyway.

Graham never appreciated her cooking and made horrendous jokes about how he wished she would just order a pizza for once, when there'd be a gourmet meal that took time and effort right in front of his face. Graham's favorite movie was Fast and Furious. Or was it Fast and Furious, II? Graham rolled his eyes and was annoyed when Regina would get that spark, that hint of attitude that made her so bold and daring and alive. He had disliked it, wanting a more demure woman. Graham didn't appreciate the thousand little things that made Regina "Regina", and Robin was glad, very glad, he had left her, because had Graham stayed, he worried Graham could have convinced her to change, or at least hide her true self, and that would be a shame. Because Regina was pretty much the perfect woman.

All of that had spilled out of him at once, after years of bottling it in, and she had stopped crying. She kissed him, and he returned the gesture eagerly, responding with his body now that the alcohol had dulled his better senses. Before he knew it she was removing his clothes and straddling him, grinding into him, moaning and telling him how good he made her feel. And he was responding with everything he had, kissing her everywhere he could touch her, until she was begging him to fuck her hard, and she was panting and moaning, needy and aggressive, so fucking hot he had to bite his lip to hold himself back from coming too soon, even with all the alcohol he had drank that night.

If he had thought more about it, he would have waited that night. Told her he would not be her rebound because she was more to him than that. He'd have been braver. But it had happened, and when he awoke with her in his arms, she was smiling at him, kissing him, telling him thank you. She ran to the bathroom, came back showered and changed, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and left.

The second time had been just four days later. It was David's barbecue, and she had a few beers before she sat next to him on the bench, grabbing his hand with her free hand, a beer in the other.

"I guess we need to talk," he started, because, didn't they?

She scrunched up her nose, staring off into the wooded area behind David's home. "Do we have to?"

"I…don't you need to talk about it?"

"It happened, we're still friends, right? It doesn't have to happen again and it doesn't have to change anything."

But it had happened again just a few hours later. She asked him to take her home, but when he dropped her off she was hesitating before getting out, finally admitting that she didn't really want to be alone just yet. So he came up to join her, just to talk.

She popped on the TV and was just laying her head against her shoulder on the couch, like she was melting into him, and he was so happy at that point that he kissed the top of her head, and she had responded with a kiss on his cheek, which he answered with a kiss he meant for her cheek that had landed on her neck, and she shuddered, looking at him like that, and that was the end of even pretending these kisses were innocent. It was a slower, sweeter time that night. He took his time with her, and she let him get to know her body, search and explore what she liked, what she needed. She had responded in kind, her body kissing and caressing him, taking him in her hands (and later her mouth) until she found the exact touch, the exact rhythm that made him crazy. They had multiple times that night, without so much as a conversation about what they were doing to one another, and if he told her she was perfect, and if, in the heat of the moment, he said she was the most beautiful woman in the world, that was just pillow talk, wasn't it? And if she said she had wanted him so badly, she was just flattering him, wasn't she?

She had asked that they not talk about it, so he hadn't. He hadn't talked about it any of the other times they wound up in bed together. He hadn't bared his soul to her, told her how it made him feel to have her in his arms not knowing if each time would be the last. He didn't need to burden her with this so close to a breakup.

It was only after the third night that they wound up in bed together that Regina had said anything about it. Her head was laying on his chest, skin was still glistening with the sweat of their very recent, far too incredible sex, her breath still labored, when she said "I really like this."

His mind flashed through the three, very obvious, very vocal orgasms she had that night, and he chuckled. "You don't say."

She whacked his head playfully, turned her head down, and he sensed a hint of embarrassment from her, so he added quickly "I really like this too."

"You're good at this." She offered the compliment quietly still not looking at him, still laying on his chest, breathing in.

"Did you ever have any doubt?" Robin asked proudly.

Regina lifted herself to face him, half scowling, half smirking. "You're my friend. I don't – I didn't ever think about you this way, before…wait, did you think about me?"

"I'm a guy," he answered sheepishly, "and you are my friend, my very hot friend." He pauses for a second and then adds, "You're even better than I imagined to be honest."

That had made her happy. She looked touched, lighter than she had in awhile, before she pretended to be offended, of course.

"I don't want our friends finding out about us." she pressed on. "It's just, I don't want them to make more out of this than it is. I just want to keep this fun and casual."

"Fine by me." He said. And it was, as long as he could still have her.

"I mean, if it even happens again." She added.

And that was their only talk about their friends-with-benefits arrangement.

But she was kidding herself if she thought it wasn't going to happen again, and after that night there were many stolen glances, many times his hand touched her legs under the table while they ate dinner with their friends, times they were grabbing each other to a semi private place for a heated makeout session while their friends waited for them just out of eyesight.

—-

And now here they were, after months of…whatever it was they were doing, here she was. Pregnant. With a miracle. And the irony was they would never have slept together to begin with had she not gotten that (obviously very wrong) infertility diagnosis.

"What do you want to do now?" Robin asked, coming back down to earth after a few moments of silence, to process this.

Regina is still shaking, still won't look at him. He goes to put his arm on her shoulder and she winces at his touch.

"Regina, look at me." But she won't meet his gaze.

"I'll support you in any decision you make." He offers trying to get her to turn to him. "Anything you want – except….if you decide to keep it, let me be a part of his or her life. Let me be a real father."

And she looks up at him, her eyes are bloodshot, filled with tears. "You want to be…involved?"

He nods his head vigorously, and she can't help but laugh. "I've always wanted kids, and it might not be the ideal situation or the ideal time, but I have no doubt we'd raise a wonderful child. But…I'm not pushing you. You can decide whatever you want with regards to this pregnancy."

She takes a deep breath and looks down at her lap. "I feel like I was just granted a wish, and it came true at the worse time, under less than ideal circumstances. I wanted to be married, settled…"

"I'll marry you."

He means it, she can tell just by looking at him. But she laughs and waves him off. "No no, I don't need that. I just…I feel like I can't let this baby go. It might be my only shot…"

"Then let's do this." He's shocked by how excited he is – all the fear seemed to melt away into this anticipation for something new in his life.

"Thank you" she says, her body finally relaxing, going soft, looking at him. "This could have been so much harder. Now all I have to do is tell my family that I'm pregnant with no husband, no fiancé, and not even a boyfriend." She laughs in that overwhelmed way, as if the whole situation is absurd. "Everyone's about to find out I'm a bit looser than they even imagined."

"I haven't slept with anyone else, since the first time we were together." Robin says out of nowhere.

Her eyebrow lifts and she responds "Neither have I..so?"

"We go out together, we make love - (Regina snorts at the phrase "make love") – we make love , we do Regina….and we're exclusive. You have a boyfriend. You've had one for several months."

"Robin…"

"Let me be there when you tell your parents. Deflect some of the anger. I'll play the part of the committed boyfriend, of course, not your casual sex friend." He winks at her, and she smiles again.

"What happens when I am say, six months pregnant, big as a house and puffy and gross, and you want to see someone else? If my mother finds out you're with someone while I'm pregnant…you know her. She will destroy you, humiliate you. You did not sign up for this. We're just friends."

"You're going to carry our child for nine months, I think I can handle a commitment to you for at least the same amount of time. And my bet is you are going to look beautiful at 6 months pregnant." He would bet his life that she'd be beautiful to him at 6 months pregnant, just like he bet she'd be beautiful to him thirty years from now. There was something about her that just pulled him towards her, always.

She rolls her eyes at the notion and sighs.

"Come on Regina, let me help you with this" he presses just a bit more.

There's a slight nod, this time, and he's surprised, excited. "Really?" She nods again smiling, looking at him.

"It would be so nice to have you there when I tell them," she admits.

"Great."

"I'm so sorry, you have no idea how sorry I am, I feel like I ruined your life—"

"Do I look like a man whose life has been ruined?" He's smiling, a goofy, big smile, and he knows Regina didn't expect this reaction to an unplanned pregnancy. She looks completely shocked.

It's not ideal, in an ideal world, he would have married Regina Mills years ago, maybe this would be their third child. In a slightly less ideal world she would simply love him back, and know that he loved her, and they could raise this child as a committed couple. But there were worse things in life than having a child with your best friend, your best friend who you are in love with, your best friend who may not love you back right now, but maybe will one day.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina won't tell her parents just yet. "There's no need to tell anyone until this is more than just a possibility" she explains to Robin. After twelve weeks, after the chance of miscarriage drops, after the results of her sonogram and screening for many genetic diseases or potentially fatal conditions…after that. If all goes well with that, she will tell them then. In a month. No need to worry them until it's real.

Regina had told Robin the same day she found out, finding she had to tell someone, and there was no one else she could tell, because there was no one else who knew she had been secretly fucking her good friend. She had a blood test to try to determine the cause of her illness, and the results had come back positive for HCG. She immediately called her OB/GYN and demanded a same day appointment. Once there, she interrogated them about the results, assuming this HCG indicated something else, possibly some other type of disease, until a sonogram was offered. She didn't ovulate. This had to be a mistake.

But then it was on the screen, tiny, measuring 8 weeks, the size of a bean. But the little form moving around looked bigger than life on that screen, the little blob on the screen had a recognized head and body, and when the doctor let her hear the child's heartbeat, Regina cried, as did the nurse in the room with her. It was real.

She didn't go back to work after the appointment. She could have handled the work day, but she could not have handled seeing Emma Swan so soon after this news.

If keeping the pregnancy from her family for the next month was easy, keeping a pregnancy from her friends, friends you see regularly, is quite another story. Especially keeping anything from Emma, who was not only her friend, but her coworker.

Over the years, Emma had learned to read Regina quickly. She had immediately sensed something was wrong during every fight with Graham, every troublesome college party, every disappointing grade, every bad talk with her mother. Emma need only look at Regina for a moment before she was raising her eyebrow and asking "What's wrong?"

Emma knew something was wrong the moment Regina had gotten her fertility test results, months ago. She was the first to pick up on her foul mood after breaking up with Graham. Emma knew Regina, and it made it impossible for Regina to keep any semblance of a private life from Emma.

Emma's sixth sense worried Regina so much, she spent much of Sunday night and Monday morning in the mirror, practicing her "normal face", hoping to pass under Emma's radar for just a few more quiet weeks. Every inch of posture was analyzed in a mirror for possible tells – any indication that she was putting on a mask of false pleasantness, that she had anxiety, fear, and uncertainty buried within her. When she was finally satisfied that she had concealed any of her inner turmoil, she entered the office, each rehearsed look and smile coming off so well, and damn, no one seemed to suspect a thing.

Regina was drumming up every happy memory she could to give the appearance of a good mood, managing to suppress all the fear and uncertainty of her pregnancy into her deep subconscious. She was positive, after chatting with the office manager, bubbly and giggly, that Emma would not suspect anything. She walked by Emma's office, giving her a smile and a wave.

"What's wrong?" Emma said from her desk. She had barely even looked up, but she must have seen something – felt something, and dear god this woman had a superpower.

Regina recovered from her shock quickly. "I think your spidy sense is off today. Nothing is wrong today. I'm in a good mood."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Mhm…So what did the doctor say?"

Right. When Regina started feeling ill two weeks prior to finding out she was pregnant, Emma had noticed the mood change immediately. "What's wrong?" she had asked, and Regina very bluntly told her that she must have a stomach bug, or maybe was on the verge of a migraine, because something made her queasy, sensitive to smells, tired, and feverish. After pulling all those symptoms out of her Emma had begged her to see a doctor. She was worried it was more serious. Ironically had Emma not pried and got her to confess about her infertility diagnosis months ago, she probably would have guessed Regina was pregnant by now.

"No real diagnosis. Probably a stomach bug."

"Did they test you for mono?"

Regina looked at her, shocked and disgusted. "Mono? No, Emma, we are not teenagers. I'm a grown ass woman."

"Well the symptoms fit. And it is the kissing disease. And there's someone you've been with since you and Graham ended it. I'm not an idiot, I can tell."

Well, shit.

"Why are you so concerned with every aspect of my life?" Regina had been battling her illness all morning, and could not stand the sight of her friend at that moment. "Get your own hobbies, Swan." With that she barreled into her office, sitting down with a huff.

"Regina…" Emma followed her into the office, sitting on the edge of the desk. "You're my friend. I hate seeing you all guarded and angsty like this. Why do you feel the need to keep things from me? I always keep your secrets. And you know I make you feel better."

Regina gave her an obvious eyeroll. "Yes, you have the magic touch with me, and I am so wild beast you had to tame. Please, Emma, pat yourself on the back more."

"Ok now I'm really starting to get worried. What is going on?"

Regina felt a twinge of guilt. Emma had slowly wormed her way into Regina's life. First as someone she decided she hated – the spunky little girl from the perfect family with the perfect boyfriend and the perfect instincts. Everything she tried she mastered, everything seemed to fall into place for Emma Swan. Soon Emma proved herself to be smart, strong, and not quite as lucky as she appeared. Regina grew to respect her, then to like her. When they both got a job at the same company after college, Regina had actually been happy that she worked with Emma. And now….years later….Regina had to admit that the woman standing in front of her was not only a friend, but a best friend, a friend who had gone out of her way to help and support her, who knew her better than anyone. Emma deserved better.

"Sorry, I have absolutely no idea what is wrong with me. I am feeling so miserable." She shook her head.

"Who's the dude?"

"I'm…not ready to talk about him."

"So there's only one guy, no random hookups?"

"No, just one guy. But it's meaningless, Emma, it's just sex."

"So eventually you're going to just sleep with him one day, decide it's over, and never see him again?"

Regina reacted before she could think otherwise. "Well of course not, I'm not cutting him out of my life when the sex stops."

"So he's IN your life enough that to stop seeing him you'd need to…"cut him out", huh? Who is this guy, I'm assuming I know him."

Shit. Emma should be a god damned prosecutor.

"Please Emma…you're giving me a migraine."

"Fine. Tell me when you are ready. But something is wrong."

* * *

Regina left work early that day and called Robin. Robin worked for the government. Robin was always finished work by 5 PM. Yet he made more than most of her friends. The benefits of being a federal employee.

"Hey…how'd it go?" Robin asked, knowing she had been worried to return to work.

"Emma's asking questions and thinks I have mono."

Robin's laugh brings a smile to her lips too, as she appreciates the absurdity of the situation.

"Oh Emma. So close and yet so far away."

"She knows I've been seeing someone. She said so. She's going to figure this out before 12 weeks. I think…I'm not ready to tell anyone yet. Especially…about us. If that's okay?"

"Anything you want to do is okay with me." Robin said. And it really was. "So tell her to mind her own business. Our friends will understand that you don't want to share this right away. It happens all the time."

Regina couldn't pretend to have a stomach bug for long, and a week after her pregnancy diagnosis, she decided she had to stop backing out of events and parties with her friends.

"I'm going, on Thursday."

There's a pause on the phone. "Really?" he asked

"Obviously I won't drink."

"So you'll tell them then?"

"No I'll just…act normal. Minus the drinks." She pauses and then adds "you're coming, right?"

"If you are? Of course I am. Regina, love, you know I wouldn't call you a lush, but not drinking at a party, that's…"

"I'll tell them I'm on antibiotics for a cold. Or I'm not feeling well. Or I'm on a cleanse."

"The alternative is you just don't go."

"It's Mary Margaret's birthday. I'm not going to miss it because I'm afraid people will pay attention to my drinking habits."

"Alright" he concedes, though his tone sounds unsure. "Are you feeling ok?"

"A little better, actually. Smells are still making me gag."

"Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm set."

She's not good at asking for things, he has already realized. She's never been good at asking for help. He's always the one asking for her help. He's the one who had confessed to her he didn't know what he was doing in their accounting class, three days before a mid-term, and she had immediately cancelled a night out to teach him the entire class. In those late nights, during study breaks, he had shared more with her than he had with any other woman. He admitted his semester had been a mess after his breakup from Zelena. The simple truth was he wasn't over her yet despite the fact they had only dated for a few months, and their relationship wasn't particularly close. She had suggested it might be more of a blow to his ego than a blow to his heart, and he had realized she was right. She never seemed to need help, and he began to think she was perfect, so capable, so above him, until he learned more of what she went through. She had plenty of obstacles, plenty of demons, but she never asked anyone to help her. You had to know her well enough to help without being asked.

"What are you going to eat for dinner?" he asked, suspicious.

"None of your business" she responded, smiling, knowing why he was asking.

"You're feeding my future baby, Regina. And this weekend you were gagging every time you went near the kitchen."

"Only because you were cooking stir fry. And that morning you made eggs and bacon."

"Right, the smell of delicious bacon, how disgusting." He laughed at how stubborn she was being. "You barely had any food at your place when I was over. Let me just pick you up and take you to mine and cook you whatever you want."

There's a pause and then she says "Grilled cheese?" and he laughs, agrees, and picks her up. He says nothing when she brings an overnight bag (he doesn't want to say anything that might make her change her mind and go home), though he is glad to see it. She'll fall asleep on the couch, or in bed with him, because she is clearly so exhausted these days. She'll wakeup and take the metro to work, and she's closer to work from his place anyway.

She stays with him on Tuesday and Wednesday night as well. He calls and invites her both times, and she agrees to come over. There's nothing sexual happening between them, he has no idea whether he has the right to touch her in that way anymore. But Regina, the person who had always been so infuriatingly independent , the person who became icy when being confronted with anything sentimental or overly emotional, was suddenly softer, easier.

When he made her dinner, she smiled and said something about him spoiling her, and he responded that he liked taking care of her, and she responded with squeezing his hand. It was a far cry from times in the past where she took his acts of kindness as insults, insisting that she was "perfectly capable" of putting together furniture herself, carrying her own groceries, hanging her own pictures. She had been like that for years, with everyone he knew, but since she told him of the pregnancy he was enjoying the warm, different version she was showing him - and only him, and he was falling more deeply in love with her every moment she was near him.

* * *

Thursday approaches, and Mary Margaret's surprise birthday takes place in at their favorite bar. A room has been rented out back, half of the room inside, another half leading out to a private outdoor area. cake, a few more of her favorite appetizers, and some of her friends from out of town who made this special trip back.

Regina smiles as she sees Ruby in a cocktail dress that barely covers her ass. Ruby is Mary Margaret's best friend from childhood, and was a frequent visitor in the apartment Regina and Mary Margaret shared in college. Seeing Ruby usually meant a weekend of crazy adventures, and as much as Regina had pretended to be annoyed by her free spirit and loose morals, she was always glad for the weekends when she had an excuse to let loose.

Ruby was a hugger, and jumped on Regina immediately, not caring that Regina was decidedly _not_ a hugger. Especially now, especially when she was hiding a pregnancy, and though it's impossible to tell by looking or touching her it _feels_ completely unhidden and visible to Regina. There's so much more hugging to be done, because David had really outdone himself on the invites. The only plus side is Emma is distracted, and Regina can avoid her for a bit.

When she finally sees Robin, he's got an amused grin on his face, evident he had been watching her for awhile. He throws out his arms when she starts walking towards him in a mocking gesture. "You could use another hug!" She rolls her eyes and surprises him by walking straight into his arms, even though it had been a clear joke at her obvious discomfort in physical affection. The hug lasts a second, a second where she whispers "I hate this" and then she's out of his arms, face contorted in that adorable pout, and he has to remind himself that he can't even try to kiss her in public.

Mary Margaret cries when she enters the room surrounded by her loved ones, kissing David and thanking everyone with such sincerity it makes Regina sick to her stomach. There is cake soon after, and the singing of happy birthday, as well as a toast to Mary Margaret that has Regina raising a glass of seltzer water, pretending there's vodka in it. The sea of people to talk to and catch up with becomes draining on Regina, as most large social functions tend to be.

"You alright?" Emma says coming up behind Regina, who's leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit exhausted by all this."

"Have my drink," Emma says with a knowing smile, looking at Regina's empty glass.

"I don't think that will help."

"STILL sick?" Emma's eyes are wide.

"No…it's…" Regina struggles with what to say when Mary Margaret appears behind her with David and Robin.

"I absolutely love you guys for this!" Mary Margaret says in slightly slurred, and there she goes with the hugs again.

"David did everything. I just showed up," Regina mutters.

"Regina, do you know one of the specialties for my birthday is a Pimm's Cup?"

And she's holding Regina's favorite summer drink in front of her, and it's torture.

"No thanks," she starts, "I'm- I'm on a cleanse."

"Bullshit. You don't believe in cleanses." Emma says immediately "Regina, what is going on?"

"Are you sick? You don't look good." Mary Margaret looks concerned. Just like that, everyone's eyes are on her. She's either going to cause a scene and yell at everyone to back off her, or melt into a puddle on the corner. She focuses her eyes on Robin and tries to find a center.

"It's nothing, seriously, just a little stomach thing that's lingering. I figured I would change my diet or _go on a cleanse_ to see if that helps. I'm trying everything. Can everyone focus on the party now?" She's looking at Emma with clenched teeth.

Mary Margaret is quite for a second before her face looks like she just discovered the answer. "Wait, did you…do you think you're _pregnant?"_

Emma goes to answer quickly on Regina's behalf, but catches Regina's startled reaction.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant." Emma blurts it out before she has a chance consider her words.

Regina just rubs her hand over her eyes "Emma, I know you think you can read me, but you can't."

She putters out a little defense, and Emma just cocks her head, clearly contemplating calling her out on her lies.

David's looking worried at Regina, Mary Margaret looks excited for her, and Robin….Robin is looking amused. Oh god, she's being so unconvincing at denying this. She gives up.

"Fine. It's really early. And really unexpected. It's so early it might be over at any moment. And no one else can know."

David is asking if he can get her anything and Mary Margaret is asking how far along she is, and Regina knows Emma is dying to ask her how she conceived given what a two doctors had told her a few months ago. But Regina had told Emma about that in confidence, and Emma knew better than to ask about it in front of anyone else.

Emma eyes Robin suspiciously. "Why don't _you_ look surprised at the news?"

"I...what?" Robin is caught off guard, not used to being analyzed by Emma's watchful eye. He's been caught. "Of course I'm surprised."

"Is it…" It's clear what Emma is about to ask that if he's the father, and clear from his reaction he has no idea whether he's allowed to answer. She stops, but it doesn't stop Mary Margaret from picking up the interrogation.

"Oh my god," Mary Margaret looks at the two of them and it is looking at David, hitting him. "I TOLD YOU, I KNEW IT!"

"Knew what?" Regina asked, frustrated, angry, and entirely sure what she "knew".

"I knew you two were together, I could tell you were feeling each other up under the table last month and –"

"Mary Margaret, give them a break. We don't know the first thing about this situation." He looks at Regina, adding, "and it's none of our business. I don't even know how you feel about this. I'm sorry, we've had a lot to drink."

He means Mary Margaret has, and he's not wrong. Ordinarily she'd have an ounce more tact.

Regina takes in a deep breath and looks at Robin, seeing if he's ok with her speaking. He nods slightly and she answers. "Well you might as well know now instead of speculating in private behind our backs. It _is_ Robin's. It…wasn't anything serious between us, which is why we didn't tell you guys.

"But this is good news, isn't it? I mean, best case scenario, given the situation? I was worried it was Grahams. You can't get a better father than Robin. And you two are perfect for each other, you'll make a great family."

"We aren't going to be a family," Regina says, sighing. "We aren't together. It was not like that."

There's silence and Mary Margaret looks puzzled, her mouth drops and she's about to say something but then David is ushering her away. "oohhhkay we have a ton more guests who came a long way to see us and I think everyone needs their space." He turns to Regina and mouths "I'm sorry" before Ruby collides with Mary Margaret, holding her tight and wishing her a happy birthday for the sixth time that night.

Regina leans against the wall, taking a deep breath in. "Well, that went worse than I expected" she admitted, looking up at the ceiling.

"Regina, I am so sorry…" Emma started.

"No, it's ok it was bound to happen sooner or later. I, I'm going to keep it. If my body lets me. I guess you figured that."

"We both want this" Robin adds.

Emma nodded, looking at Robin and then back to Regina. Emma wasn't the only one who could read minds, Regina thought smugly.

"He knows about the diagnosis," Regina says, "That's uh, that's why we weren't…careful."

Emma nods her head, absorbing the information and what it meant that Regina trusted him without protection that quickly.

"If it gets far enough I'm going to have to tell Gold. And, I may be telling people that Robin and I are together. Or serious. So if people around the office ask-" The thought of telling her boss, the sneer that would go on his face as she told him, was not something she was looking forward to.

"Fuck Gold. I'll tell everyone you secretly married six months ago if you want me to. Fuck anyone who judges you about this."

Regina smiles "You don't have to do anything like that. I just don't want what to deal with the office rumors about me getting knocked up on a one night stand."

Emma laughs and her eyes fall to Robin, whose eyes haven't left Regina. "It clearly wasn't a one night stand."

"No, it happened…quite a few times." Regina concedes, color rising to her cheeks.

"That's not what I meant," Emma says, groaning. "God you two need to work it out. I'm going to go say hi to August."

"Emma?" Regina called.

"Hmm?"

"No telling anyone? Even Killian?"

"Jesus Christ, of course not. Good luck you two." But Emma is Emma, and she can't keep let the conversation end on a serious note. "I get to be the godmother, if you are doing that sort of thing. Not Mary Margaret, okay? Certainly not Ruby, and if you even consider Tina over me…"

"You're the godmother, I get it," Regina said with a smile, "if we even name godparents."

"Oh I don't care, I'm calling myself the godmother. I'm happy for you, Regina." She really was, more than anyone she knew how devastated Regina was hearing that she could never have kids. As she walked off, taking a swig of beer and grabbing August by the arm to say hi, Regina breathed a heavy sigh.

"You ok?" Robin has been mostly silent, but he hasn't left her side.

"You knew this was going to happen," Regina said. "I should have listened to you and just stayed home."

"Regina Mills, admitting that I'm right. Is there going to be an eclipse tonight?" that twinkle is in his eyes again, and he looks playful, happy.

"Very funny. I'm going to head out for the night." Regina adds, pausing. "I… I'm going home and ordering a pizza. I owe you a couple of dinners, if you're interested in joining me."

Robin chuckles and waves his hand at the suggestion. "You don't owe me any dinners. You're carrying my baby for me, let's call us even." He pauses, but she doesn't smile at the joke, "But I am hungry, and just about done with this party." He adds quickly, before she can take his response as a rejection. "Pizza sounds good."

* * *

He spends the night at her apartment, that night. She insists nothing is wrong, but when they crawl into bed, she is immediately in his arms, hugging him much tighter than she ever has before. He's overwhelmed by what he feels for the person next to him, and not sure how or when to broach the subject of how he is clearly, thoroughly in love with her now, and never wants to let her go. For now he just enjoys it, enjoys being around her as much as she lets him.

Most nights ended like this in the wake of finding out she was pregnant, and while she found she needed it, it bothered her. He still has to call, still has to give her an excuse to invite him over or to let him invite her over, but once they are together they fall into a domestic routine with an almost frightening ease. Gradually her nausea subsides and she feels comfortable cooking again, so she calls and invites him to dinner "as a thank you". On another night, he calls up and invites her for some because he wants her opinion on paint colors for the spare bedrooms in his house.

During that month once they were alone together it felt to Regina like Robin practically spent every second by her side, hovering over her, tending to her as if she were some fragile piece of china, some bird with a broken wing, some sad, wounded child. And worse, she had let him act like that, she had soaked up every ounce comfort he had given her, hoping to squirrel it away to help her face what was going to come – telling her boss she would need time off for a baby as an unmarried woman, her family, dealing with letting her body grow bigger, wider, puffier…preparing for one of the biggest blessings she could ever hope for. All of those experiences, terrifying and new, exciting and agonizing – all awaited her, as soon as she would allow this pregnancy to become real.

* * *

The morning of the ultrasound comes, and Regina wakes up nauseous for the first time in over two weeks. She makes it to the bathroom to vomit, her eyes watering as she chokes up last night's dinner, wondering whether this was morning sickness back with a vengeance or the stress and anxiety of the morning's scan.

She's brushing her teeth when Robin comes up behind her, hugs her from behind. She smiles instinctively before spitting a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Good morning" she says.

"You okay? I was hoping the nausea was gone."

"I feel better. It might just be nerves."

Robin nodded. "I thought that might be it. Would it helped if I promised you everything was going to be just fine?"

She laughed. "No. Because you can't possibly know that."

He smiled. "No matter what I can promise you everything is going to be just fine. No matter the results of the scan. We'll get through it."

She nods. "I'm not even sure what I'm hoping for," she concedes with a sigh. "My life would be so much easier if…"

Robin says nothing, agrees with her arguments for why it will all be okay if it turns out there is no baby. Still, he knows she wants this baby, knows she is just trying to prepare herself for the possible disappointment.

Regina isn't too sure until she's facing the sonogram screen, watching a wiggling shape in front of her that now has defined legs and arms, facial features, hands and feet.

"Everything looks good with the baby. Nothing concerning. But we're going to do a blood test just to check for a few possible abnormalities." Regina's eyes never leave the screen in front of her, she just nods.

She finally turns to Robin, who has been holding her hand the whole time. "You're crying" she notes, causing the doctor and Robin to laugh.

"You're crying too, Regina."

She hadn't even noticed. He moves closer towards her and kisses her on the lips, a light, chaste little kiss that shouldn't make her heart soar, but emotions are running high at this moment, and it's only natural. As soon as he pulls away she has a hand on the back of his head and pulls him forward for another quick peck, smiling broadly.

"We get to talk about baby names, now. A couple for a girl and a couple for a boy." Robin is giddy, excited, and suddenly Regina feels the same, despite everything that is to come.

"You two are a beautiful couple," the doctor murmurs.

They don't correct him.

He leaves them in the office room then, so Regina can get changed and clean up all the jelly that's covered her stomach to aid the sonogram.

"So It sounds like it's time to tell my parents" Regina finally says as she puts on her shoes. "How do you feel about taking a trip with me to visit them? I think this is news they should hear in person."

"Anytime you want to go up and visit, I'm available."

She nods. "Next weekend too late notice?"

"Not at all."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter nearly killed me. I told myself I wasn't delaying another chapter before I got out everything with Cora/Henry, but all these flashbacks kept popping up into the story and hell, whatever. Anyway, this took months which was shitty on my part, but in all fairness, this is the length of about 3 chapters in one! Happy reading!**

* * *

It was real. It was happening.

For the last month her life was in a holding pattern, staring ahead at a giant question mark of what her future would look like. She refused to plan anything, look outside that window of one month, and suddenly, everything was crashing down on her, drowning her in to-do lists, fear, uncertainty, and very emotion she had chased herself from experiencing over the last few weeks, telling herself it was too soon to worry about _yet._ Well, now it was time to tell people about her pregnancy. And telling people – telling people that weren't Robin, or Emma, or her close friends – that made it real. And making it real was terrifying.

She's been staring at the phone for what feels like hours, working through a script. She will call to say she wants to see her parents this weekend, to introduce them to her new boyfriend. Though it wasn't exactly a new introduction, as her parents have met him before. There had been a dinner with friends that time junior year in college, her college graduation party, and probably other times when her mother had "popped in" for a visit to find Robin and Emma over, making a mess of her usually spotless apartment.

Insisting on _this_ weekend would be the problem, Regina knew it would alert Cora to an issue. So she decided to say they wanted to just stop over on their way to a party in New York. It would be easy, and it would make a great escape plan after she revealed she was pregnant and caused whatever epic meltdown awaited her.

Regina was twenty-eight years old. Too old to be afraid of her mother's wrath. Too old to be this guilty and upset over disappointing her parents. She was hardly a pregnant teenager. It was her life, thoroughly at this point. She took a deep breath in and pressed the call button.

"Regina, darling?"

"Hi mom!"

"Well how unexpected to hear from you on a non-holiday! I…sadly, I have to assume something is wrong, unfortunately, you call so infrequently. So what is it?"

The guilt trip was setting in already. Things were off to a _lovely_ start.

"Nothing, mother." Regina pursed her lips willing herself to assume a pleasant tone. "I just…I was going to go to New York this weekend and I thought I could stop and see you and dad?"

"What's going on in New York?"

"Um, you remember Elsa. She's having a party."

Her mother most likely did not remember Else. Cora had little interest in Regina's friends. But thank goodness for that, because this whole story was a lie.

"I see. So you were thinking of heading up on Friday night, staying with us through Saturday morning or early afternoon?"

Oh god. No spending the night.

"I was thinking I could stop by on Saturday morning and stay for a bit, you see-"

"Family is important, Regina. If you're going to be so close you should try to see us for more than a few hours."

Regina furrowed her brow and took a deep breath in, moving her mouth from the receiver so her mother wouldn't chastise her for sighing in an unladylike manner.

"Mother, I wanted to introduce you to someone while I'm up, as well. I don't know if he will be able to join us on Friday evening."

"He?" Cora asked.

"You've met him before. A friend of mine from college, Robin? He's now…well, we're dating."

There's a pause. A long pause.

"I see." Cora says, "How long have you been dating?"

How long indeed? That was the question she had asked herself so many times, because there was no good answer. She was three months pregnant. Graham had broken up with her just about seven months ago. She and Robin had first slept together less than a month after Graham left her, but she hadn't told her mother about the breakup with Graham immediately. She was a private person, and so she had only told her when there was worry her mother might be visiting DC, a pharmaceutical conference she was chairperson of and had planned on attending. At that point, a drop-in would have revealed Graham's things missing and Regina completely alone in their apartment. So out of fear, she had told her mother about the break-up only about five months ago. There was no way Robin wouldn't appear to be a horribly obvious rebound, not worth her parent's time.

You know what? Better go with vague.

"We've been dating for a few months."

"I see. Is it serious? Regina, I would love to see you but I have no interest inviting a man into our home who is unlikely to be in our lives in the next few weeks."

"He'll be in my life for quite awhile." Regina gritted her teeth, realizing how true that statement would be. They would be raising a child and Robin would be a part of her life as long as that child had air in his or her lungs. That fact alone was too real and terrifying to dwell on. She shook her head and pressed on. "He's _been_ in my life for quite awhile. You've met him before, he was a good friend of mine for years. British accent? Dad was in the Airforce? He was at the Holiday Party Walter through down in Bethesda last year?"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, you have so many _good friends_ I just can't keep track of them." It was passive aggressive, almost sarcastic, and Regina hates her for it. Cora has never liked her friends and seems to regard them all as superficial, meaningless friendships. It's never bothered Regina, not until now. Because Robin _was_ a good friend, and she had spoke of him countless times before, had introduced him on countless occasions. He was so important to her, even before they ever slept together and Cora had never even noticed. Regina sighed, audibly this time.

"I think it would be nice to have a little brunch, around noon on Saturday?"

They would leave early on Saturday morning, drive up 4 ½ hours to see her parents, and then…drive 4 ½ hours…home? She'd figure that out later. Maybe she owed Robin a trip to New York, but she couldn't really afford that at all. She'd have to figure out something to give him, because so far he'd been a saint through this all.

"Alright darling."

"We'll pick up something and we can eat at the house" Regina offered. It's best to have this conversation in private, so when Cora started flinging fireballs in her direction innocent bystanders weren't scorched in the process.

"That's absolute nonsense. We'll go to the Club. You know daddy loves the crepes there."

Oh god. Out of all the public places to drop this news, the club is by far the worst case scenario.

"I'd rather you get to know Robin in a less….sterile environment?"

Cora groaned disapprovingly. "Honestly, Regina, I have so much trouble understanding you. Most children quit rebelling after their teenage years. There's nothing wrong with growing up with class and elegance. Lord knows many of those friends could have benefited from exposure to places like the Club. Do you think…it will make your friend – sorry, your new boyfriend, uncomfortable? Is he not used to nice places?"

 _Thanks mom. Thanks._ Another dig at Graham. He was never high brow enough for her mother's taste, ever seemed to appreciate the finer things, always looked so out of place at the restuarants Cora would pick for them.

"It's not that at all. I'd just rather Robin see where I was raised." She pauses, noting the deafening silence. "It's serious, mother."

"Well you certainly were not in a rush to have Graham over. I think it took you years before you agreed to a weekend trip home."

"I'm aware. Robin is not Graham."

"I should hope not." Cora was sighing one of those exasperated, long sighs. "I did tell you he wasn't good for you, did I not?"

"Yes, mother. I have told you that you were right many times."

Cora was right about Graham, but it had been a coincidence. She just happened to hate all her love interests, even Daniel. And Daniel was undeniably good, perfect til the moment he left the Earth.

"Well if seeing our home is that important there's no reason we can't meet for coffee after brunch. I'm making reservations."

And that would have to do. She said her goodbyes and hung up, stress radiating from every pulse point in her body.

* * *

She wasn't normally like this, not even after much more brutal talks with Cora. She was strong, resilient, especially under pressure or stress. But now she was feeling weak, wishing she had made this phone call when Robin was over, because for whatever reason just having him around was such a calming presence.

In the past month she had allowed herself to become completely dependent on him, which was a bit concerning given that he had ceased to find her sexually attractive the moment she told him she was pregnant. He touched her now in a different way, everything felt innocent, almost like he was a kind caregiver, like each touch was meant for their future child and not her. She had taken all the comfort from him anyway, because she just plain _needed it_ to keep it together. That fact alone terrified her, because what was she going to do when she didn't have him anymore?

Sure, Robin would be in her life in some capacity, for their child. She did believe that he wanted this child, that he wanted to be a father. But he was going to have a whole new life soon. Given that he wanted a child, he probably thinking about slowing down and perhaps the days of him quietly bringing home girls from bars and concerts were gone, and he'd look for a serious girlfriend. He was quite a catch, really, and the only reason he wasn't in a serious relationship now is because he seemed to enjoy being young and single. But now, since she told him about the baby, Robin seemed…different. More domestic. Softer. At least, she saw a different side of him, a more mature side she didn't really see before.

So Robin would meet someone serious soon, fall in love, get married and moved on, but Regina wouldn't be so lucky. She was going to be a single mother with a kid. It would be years before she dated, realistically, and while single fathers are considered sexy and appealilng, single moms are considered burdensome. Regina had to get used to caring for herself, being independent, relying on no one. It would be worth it, though, the loneliness and fear that came with being alone would be worth it, because she was going to be a mother.

The panic was rising up in her, and she suddenly had the feeling of not being able to get a deep breath in, losing oxygen. She wasn't a stranger to this feeling, had always been an anxious person, an anxious child who overworried about everything that wasn't perfect. She cursed her weakness as she focused on deep and steady breaths, forcing herself to drink a bottle of water between every gulp of air.

She was reigning in her breathing, her chest and stomach no longer tight and strangling her, and she took the opportunity to make a quick dinner. Experience told her she needed to focus on a meaningless task to keep her mind from wandering back there.

She almost had the ingredients to make huevos rancheros, but she'd rather just make an omelette. Simple, easy, but required constant attention.

It was a chorizo, onion, pepper and cheese omelette with her pico de gallo on top and some goat cheese sprinkled over it. She worked on everything with her full attention – finding she was even focusing on the presentation of the omelette despite the fact she was the only person who would see it.

Once it was done she had to admit she wasn't even hungry. This wasn't helping.

She sat the omeltte aside, let it get cold, and cleaned the pots and pans and dishes and cutting board. Cleaning wasn't working either. She was never going to get to sleep, and she was going to have a full blown panic attack.

She could do this without Robin. She really could. She would figure it out. But she also did need to talk to him so he knew about this weekend.

Drying her hands, she jogged to her cell phone, flung amongst the many items in her purse. She smiled as she looked at the screen, showing he had called her twice since she got off the phone with her mother. It didn't mean anything, it really didn't. He probably was just calling about this weekend. But it made her smile nonetheless.

She pressed the call button, controlling her breathing. He picked up immediately "Hey, I tried to call you earlier. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. I talked to my mother."

There's a pause on the phone. "Everything alright?" He can always tell when things _aren't_ alright, with her. Sometimes it's infuriating and sometimes, oddly comforting. Today it was both.

"Yes. We're on for this weekend." Her breathing is still a bit hitched. She shouldn't be weak and scared over seeing family, hates the idea of anyone, especially _Robin_ seeing her as this. She's been fearless for nearly a decade, and these past few months she had been reduced to a defenseless child.

"Lovely. I look forward to introducing myself as the father to their first grandchild."

Regina snorted. "Don't introduce yourself as that. We might have to ease them into this." The anxiety is dripping off of her, already, and he's barely said a thing. His effect on her is almost dangerous.

Robin laughed. "I know."

There's a pause in the conversation and suddenly Robin is at a loss for what to say. He's known her for ten years, and after Emma he probably knows her the best, yet he's never been able to tell what is going on in her head. This last month he's seen more of her than he ever had before – except maybe that year when they both lived in the same dorm complex. This past month, all he can say for sure is she'd been guarded. Even around him, she'd been unable to say anything she's been feeling or worrying about – and lord knows she'd been worrying. He'd given her space, hadn't tried to get her to open up yet. He'd let her make excuses for why they should see each other, indulged her in fake reasons he wanted to see her for the night too- not talk of any emotions, feelings, wants or needs. He told himself to wait until they knew that baby was still healthy. And well, now they knew. And now, now this could no longer do.

Regina takes in a deep breath and fills the silence. "They would like to meet us for brunch. At the country club."

Robin laughs loudly, and believes he can hear Regina's faint chuckle on the other end of the phone. "That is the perfect place to tell them," he says, his voice more filled with amusement than sarcasm. "I imagine when we drop the news the harpist or whatever musician is playing in the dining room will stop, suddenly, waiters will crash dishes, oh, it will be a scene right out of a movie."

He knows she's amused when she responds with a simple, tight "It's not funny." She uses that voice when she's trying not to laugh.

"It's a little funny" Robin counters, and then adds "Regina, we're going to be fine."

"It's not that easy."

"So they are disappointed, upset, whatever. We are in a position to raise this child without their help or approval.

"You don't understand. My mother, she's…. not a nice person. She knows exactly what to say to hurt, hurt more than you ever knew you were capable of. And on top of that, she doesn't believe in marrying, dating, or having children for an emotional reasons. She believes everything should have a personal benefit to your individual life goal. She married my father because he was from a prestigious family, she had me when she needed a softer image…she….she won't understand why I want this child. And she'll see it as a threat to her own reputation, and…." She's spiraling out now into worry, being more vulnerable than she needed to be.

"Regina" Robin softly interrupts "Sweetheart, we've known each other for about a decade. I know about your mother."

Right.

Regina had told Robin about her mother in bits and pieces over the years, recounting these stories - stories that Cora herself had told her own daughter in some sort of twisted belief that it would inspire Regina to attack the world with the same ruthless slimy behavior.

As awful as Cora sounded, and probably was (Robin had met her and her presence was intimidating, uncomfortable, and she certainly seemed ruthless), Robin knew Regina made her mother out to be much more frightening and all-knowing than she actually was - bigger than life, all powerful, like we do with the people we love and fear. And that was what Cora was to Regina. A person she loved and feared.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting you know all about her. I'm just worried about you, I don't want you to lose your job, or anything because of me." She pauses for a beat, "It's not too late to back out, you know.

He smiles and quickly assures her that his job and reputation is safe (It's a government job, sure, but in a field Cora knows little about, and contrary to Regina's belief, not everyone in this administration has heard of Cora Mills. She's been out of DC for the last fifteen years, for god's sake. And there are issues with getting someone in government fired for no reason. It's not going to be done.). "And I'm not backing out of this. I'm not leaving you to go through this alone. I'll be right there."

She breathes out _Alright_ in an uncertain voice before adding. "I know she's not as connected as I make her out to be. It's just that I know she is going to come up with some grand solution to this problem, and if we don't follow her plan, I have no idea what she would do."

What could she possibly do, anyway? He has no secrets, she can't take away his job, his family is safe from her wrath. Cora is comfortably human to Robin. She may know far more politicians than he will ever know, she appears to hold a lot of power over the powerful, but she is comfortably separated from his life, and the lives of his loved ones.

Except for Regina. And if Cora is as good as finding people's weaknesses as he's heard, she'll find out that Regina is his weakness quickly. If she convinces Regina to leave him, even just distance herself from him, that will be her way of ruining him. Just the thought has him on edge, feeling slightly off-kilter.

"Mind if I swing by tonight?" he asks, suddenly. He's seen her almost everyday since she told him he was pregnant and the days where he doesn't see her are far and few between, and now those days without her feel emptier, lonelier. Besides, they had just gotten the reults from the blood test they took at the sonogram, and their child was cleared of most genetic abnormalities. Why _weren't_ they together tonight? She had made an excuse for why she couldn't have dinner with him, and he hadn't wanted to make a big deal of it, so he let it go without a fight, but he sensed something was wrong, right then.

He wasn't someone who always needed company before, was quite content in spending weeknights alone, but he had developed a dependence on seeing her, having her in his bed, or being in hers. He hasn't so much as kissed her (really kissed her, not the tiny pecks they share now) since she told him she was pregnant, but there's something far more intimate that's developed, and he doesn't want that to go away. He didn't want her pulling away from him.

"I'm exhausted." She responds, with an edge of agitation.

"I'll come to you" he offers, but he knows it's pointless. She's pulling away from him, but if he calls her out on it she'll just stubbornly refuse to admit it, and the distance will grow more. She's emotionally stunted, has been since he has known her. It probably was how she dealt with Daniel's death and she's never fully come back. He wish he had known her before, if only to know what she was like before the grief and trauma and anger hardened her and put all these walls up.

"Robin…" he winces at how annoyed she sounds at him now, and no, this isn't really fair, a request to swing by and see the mother of his child shouldn't merit such a reaction. "You don't have to come over here and comfort me everytime you think I'm upset. I can take care of myself."

This isn't about comforting _her_. It's about comforting _him_. It's about getting to hold her and remind himself she's still here and they still have that connection he feels everytime he's around her.

He knows he's being selfish, but suddenly he's angry at her. His mind flashes to Graham, realizing that he probably never felt like Robin felt now. That is why he and Regina worked for so long. Graham didn't have any emotions either, so they made the perfect emotionless match. Well, Robin _has_ feelings and he isn't some sort of robotic senseless frat guy she can just use to fulfill whatever role Graham was supposed to play in her life. Robin actually cares about her, and she can't continue to hurt him like this (even though she has no idea she's hurting him because he's too much of a coward to make his feelings known).

He's about to just say this to her aloud, say words he know will hurt and upset her, and potentially reveal how in love with her she is in the process, when he hears her breathing into the phone. It's a deep strangled breath, and he knows that struggle. She had these incidents in the past, studying late at night, around finals, during senior year job interviews. It wasn't quite a panic attack, she wouldn't faint, or collapse. She'd just have trouble breathing, struggle, try to yawn to get a big breath in, and it would stay like that until her nerves calmed down.

Of course it was happening again. She had a lot on her plate.

"Breathing troubles again?" he asks lightly

She almost growls in response. "I'm seriously fine, Robin. I appreciate all you're doing for me and really, it might be too much. It's not too late…"

"Stop it" he almost shouts at her. "I want to be here. I wouldn't do anything I didn't want to do. You know this. You know me. I'm not what you would describe as "selfless", wouldn't you say?"

There's a light faint sound of laughter on the other end of the phone. "You helped David move in and practically painted his whole house."

"That wasn't being selfless." Robin says, grateful she's shifted the conversation into something lighter, because if she kept telling him to go away he was going to say something he regretted. "Free beer, a good workout, and David's next door neighbor doesn't wear a bra. And she changes in front of an open window."

She laughed, and that was a good sign. Anything that took the pressure and stress off her, at leaste temporarily, would help her get her breathing back.

"Feed the Homeless, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brother…" she starts to list his volunteer organization in a taunting manner.

He chuckled. "Enough, enough. That's different. I like doing that stuff."

"You are the most selfless person I know." she cooed, but he realized she was being honest.

"All of those things are on my terms. I don't inconvenience myself for others. You've seen how I react going to bars I detest, going out with people I don't like…going out with people I don't like…I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to that. You couldn't make me do this if I didn't want to. I'm volunteering because I already want to do it."

"mhm."

There's a pause, and he's about to say something to convince her he's not some sort of saint, but she adds in "From Ruby's account, you were quite the selfless lover."

He cringes and laughs at the same time, too loud. "I cannot _believe_ you brought that up." He thought back to that night, when he took Ruby home from a bar. He had far, far too much to drink and he knew it just wasn't going to happen for him. Rather than face the embarrassment of having to call the night a wash, he _tried_ to please Ruby, though in his drunken state his performance was less than substantial. It didn't seem to matter, Ruby hadn't focused on the fact that he wasn't the best lover, but on the fact he had turned down a blow job in favor of pleasing her, and that Robin appeared to have some sort of kink against receiving pleasure. He had confessed the truth to Regina, who found it pretty amusing.

"I'm doubting your story, you know." She sounded better, almost flirtatious. Was she flirting? Because after a month of being platonic

"Oh?" Robin asks, "Doubting what story?"

"That you were so giving because you were too drunk to…reach completion?"

He laughs again, for a moment glad she's not there to see his ears and cheeks red.

"You don't appear to have that problem, and the night Will came to visit I don't think I've ever seen you drunker, and well…"

 _Shit._ That night had been rough. It was several months ago, and Will was in town from Chicago. Whenever he got back together with Will he tended to revert into his college state. He would drink more, his jokes were cruder, he seemed to lack any sense of shame…and god. That night was no exception.

"Shit, Regina, I think I had mentally blocked that night out of my head."

"The next morning was what you need to forget."

* * *

 _He had thrown up, he remembered. With her in his bed next to him, he had run to the master bathroom, unable to even shut the door. After puking his brains out and feeling as if he was going to die, he brushed his teeth and stumbled back to the bedroom to find Regina leaning against the bed with a smug smile and an open bottle of cold water._

 _"I told you that you can't keep up with Will anymore" she taunted lightly, handing him the bottle. She was wearing one of his v-necked tee shirt, legs bare and exposed and beautiful, hair unkempt but impossibly beautiful and perfect in the morning light._

 _"Am I getting old already?" Robin asked, still half-drunk from his late night. "Every part of my body hurts."_

 _Regina smiled and tilted her head, and he noticed a red welt right below her collarbone._

 _"Shit, Regina what happened?" She looked confused as he walked towards her, smoothing over the welt with his fingers._

 _"You" she said, amused. His face went white with horror so she quickly added. "It's more of a bite than a hicky…." She giggled, and sure enough, there were teeth marks. "Apparently you're not old enough to stop giving hickies."_

 _He winced at what he had done to her, broken her skin, marked her, like some sort of rabid animal. And worst yet, he had absolutely no memory of doing it. "Regina I am so, so sorry. That looks painful."_

 _She had just smiled broader. "No, it doesn't hurt. I bruise easily. I'm going to have to wear high collared shirts for awhile, but that's fine. Lay down and drink some water. I'm going to make you something."_

 _"mmm no, lets just go to the diner and get something horribly unhealthy."_

 _"You're in no shape to be out in the daylight. Let me make you breakfast."_

 _"But you won't put an unreasonable amount of butter and grease on everything…" he moaned._

 _"I will put a lot of butter in them. THIS time." She said with a laugh. She kissed his forehead as he laid back in bed, handing him his bottle of water and pointing to the aspirin on his nightstand. "I figured you'd have a headache." He nodded faintly and she started to leave the room._

 _"Gina?" he must have been loud last night, because his voice was rough and his throat felt like sandpaper. He barely recognized his own voice._

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Is there anything else I need to apologize for?"_

 _She shook her head, walking back to the bed and cupping his cheek, a grin on her face. "No, everything was fine."_

 _"I didn't…grope you in front of our friends did I?"_

 _Regina laughed. "You got handsy, but you're always like that when you drink. You didn't try to kiss me. You just grabbed my ass a few times."_

 _"It's a nice ass" he commented, still groggy and half drunk. "I'm not surprised my drunken self was unable to resist it. Still, I'm sorry."_

 _"I didn't mind. You don't remember anything?"_

 _"It's coming back in pieces. Right now it's hard to think about anything. My head…" He swallows the two aspirins and downs some water to swallow them. The water is icy and soothes his burning aching throat. He takes another gulp, relishing in the feeling again._

 _"It was a good night." She sighed, looking down on the comforter, a sly smile on her face. "I'm a bit sad that you don't remember it. Maybe I took advantage of you in your drunken state."_

 _He choked on his sip of water, unable to contain his laughter. "Apparently I was trying to eat you alive last night" he said, motioning to the mark on her skin. "I always want you, Gina." It was a surprisingly tender admission in the haze of a bad hangover, and for a second he was going to expand on this issue, tell her how perfect she was for him, how much he thought about her everyday, how he woud do anything for her…but he fell silent. It wasn't the moment to confess feelings that would make it clear he felt more than friendship and lust for her. Not when his head was pounding and his stomach was threatening another vomiting episode._

 _"Lay down. I'll make breakfast. Will wanted to crash here, by the way, and you told him it wasn't a good night and pawned him off on John. He's going to ask what the hell that was about."_

 _Robin smiled, his eyes still shut, his hand still rubbing his forehead. "I suppose I shouldn't tell him I really needed to fuck you in privacy last night?"_

 _She threw a pillow. "Very funny."_

 _She brought up eggs and bacon and toast, butter smeared on the toast in a way Regina would never ordinarily approve. A separate plate held a rather large apple cinnamon pancake._

 _"I'm not sure what you are in the mood for" She said with a smile, "but this should cover it."_

 _"You really didn't have to do all this. And I don't deserve breakfast in bed" He said, but he was suddenly famished, shoving a forkful of egg and a bite of toast in his mouth._

 _"It's no trouble. I'll leave the cleanup for you."_

 _The night came back to him in flashes after breakfast, flashes of shots with Will, being a good wingman and helping to fix up Will with some pretty little blonde who had graduated college the year before...a flash of Emma and Killian getting into a fight, then making up, memories of Mary Margaret and David being far too sober, repeatedly asking Robin and Emma to keep their voices down, remembering the blonde Will was with ordering tequila shots and proving to be a true "woo girl"…._

 _He remembered they somehow wound up at 18_ _th_ _Street Lounge halfway through the night, probably the blonde's idea, and she had brought a few of her friends so Alan and John were occupied with her friends while Will and that blonde making out somewhere of the dance floor…_

 _He reemembered Alan and John drinking and getting into a heated debate about fantasy football, completely forgetting girls for the night..._

 _and he remembered many, many moments with Regina._

 _She wore a tight red dress, and he knew she had set out to tease him the whole night as soon as she bent down on the table to ask him if he wanted a drink, a knowing smile on her face when he took in her cleavage hungrily, when she sashayed her hips on the way to the bar, her ass barely covered by the back of her dress._

 _He remembered dancing with Regina, talking dirty into her ear, being achingly hard for her at that moment, and she had just smiled, moved in closer and said "take me home and fuck me tonight". She nipped and his ear, then she was gone from his arms. He saw her throughout the night, flirting with other men, dancing and grinding with Alan for gods sake (she didn't even like Alan, but from the looks of it he was very much enjoying her). He remembers she caught him staring more than once, meeting his eyes with one of those knowing smiles._

 _He remembered Alan mentioning that Regina looked like she wanted to get fucked tonight, and Robin being pissed as all hell as his friends mentioned they wouldn't mind helping her get over Graham…He remembered following her as she made her way to the bathroom, pulling her in for kiss and asking her to come home with him, only for her to say she was still having fun and wasn't ready to go home yet, prolonging the torture as she danced with him, quickly moving on to dance with Emma._

 _And he remembered when she finally agreed to go home with him after what seemed like hours of torture, sneaking her into his cab home when no one was paying attention, nearly getting kicked out of the cab because he couldn't stop kissing and touching her, (and to the cab driver it looked an awful lot like sex, which it might have been, if Gina was willing and the cab driver hadn't called him out on it)…_

 _He remembered she was kissing his neck and grabbing his ass as he was fumbling with his keys, then he pushed her up against the door the moment he got in, lifting her tits out of the dress (he hadn't had the patiences for zippers and buttons, and Regina hadn't seemed to mind)... he remembered that weird combination of drunken frustration, jealousy, and overwhelming desire that made him aggressive and dominating, whispering in her ear that she was a fucking tease, that she could NOT do that to him ever again unless she wanted him to fuck her in the middle of a crowded club. He had kissed and sucked his way around her breasts – harsher than usual, but the whole night had been a giant tease and she had pulled down his and boxers, and was stroking him steadily, so he took it as a sign she was feeling ok. And he remembered when he pulled off her panties, and when he felt how wet she already was, he grabbed her ass, lifted her up against the front door wall and fucked her senseless, whispering about how badly he wanted her the whole night, how perfect her body was, how she drove him crazy. She had moaned some thing back, but he couldn't focus on her words, all he could focus on was the feel of her body, how amazing she felt inside, tight and wet and fluttering around him almost instantly, as her head flung back and her nails duh into his shoulders._

* * *

It wasn't until that next Monday morning, while he was lost in thought, riding on the metro on the way to work, that he remembered he had said one more thing that night. Right when she was coming, or god, she felt like she was, pulsing all around him, her wetness dripping out of her and down his cock and balls, in that dirty, but somehow perfect moment between her orgasm and his, he was pretty sure he remembers groaning "oh god, Regina I love you."

He couldn't remember what her fact looked like, if she had been surprised, if she even heard it, if she had written it off as just sex talk or whether it had really bothered her.

Regina was drunk that night too, and it's possible the night was a haze to her as well. He hoped, prayed to whatever god that might be out there, that she didn't hear it, that it was a false memory and he had never said it afterall – that something would permit that night from being the first time he ever told Regina Mills how he felt about her.

"I, uh, I was not a gentleman that night." He said, putting it mildly.

"no, you were not. And you certainly weren't the _selfles_ s lover I was expecting after that story." Her voice was taunting, amused, not offended, and in that moment he couldn't tell if she was teasing him or asking for an explanation.

"Regina…" he started to offer an apology and an explanation for his behavior that night.

"Oh. My. God." Regina said, shocking him out of his guilt-ridden memories.

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure that was the night was the night…I mean, that is the night we conceived." Regina rambled on about the math, counting the weeks, based on the fetus's age, but all Robin could think of was no, not that night.

"Can we please make it another night?"

Regina laughed. "I mean, it's possible it was another night." She paused, probably trying to solve the same puzzle he was working on. _What other night did we actually have sex that week?_ Oh, there were other nights around that time, but it didn't seem to end in a way you could make a baby. She was right, that was probably the night. God damn it. Then she added "But I liked that night. What I remember, anyway."

"Ah yes, the night I conceived our child I whispered gently in your ear "You are such a fucking tease." What a magical night."

Regina roared with laughter. "You remember more about that night! It came back to you?"

"Not all of it, bits and pieces. Tell me what I'm forgetting." He waits. Maybe she will mention the little matter of those three words he muttered to her mid-orgasm. But otherwise, he isn't bringing it up.

"There is something you probably don't remember." Robin takes a deep breath in, preparing himself. But Regina just laughs instead. "Do you remember that we….were loud? And that your neighbor to the left woke up and banged on the walls?"

Robin chucked, thinking of how red she got the last time she ran into Randall and Sandra Cooper, both walking home from dinner, their child in a stroller, how awkward everyone had seemed, how Regina actually wouldn't make eye contact, unusual for her. "Is that why you act so weird everytime we see the Coopers?"

"Shut it."

"Well, from what I can remember it was worth whatever embarrassment you suffered…especially if that led to our future child."

There's a wistful pause in the conversation, and a small, throaty _hmm_ from Regina that sounds unbelievably sexy, has Robin even more desperate to see her, even if she hasn't given any indication she wants him in _that way_ anymore. And then he noticed her breathing isn't strangled anymore, and she sounds healthier, happier.

"So, now that you have thoroughly embarrassed me, do you feel any better?"

"I do. I will keep this magical cure in mind the next time I am feeling bad."

"Now, can I drop by so we can plan get our story straight for your parents this weekend?" He hates that he needs an excuse, that he can't just ask her to come over because even though their time apart can be easily measured in hours, he misses her. But if this is what makes her comfortable, and he's loathe to give her another reason to have a panic attack. He can wait to talk about his feelings when she is feeling better.

"Tomorrow night?"

"That works" Robin concedes. "So, how was Gold this morning at work?"

They are on the phone for another hour, Regina getting ready for bed, putting him on speakerphone when she brushes her teeth and washes her face while he tells her stories of John and Will in college, stories they surely do not want ladies to hear at all, but stories that made Regina sound relaxed and happy, and he figured whatever code he had broken in sharing these stories was worth hearing the tension drip out of Regina's voice. It occurs to Robin more than once that there is no earthly reason why he wasn't over there right now, saving his poor phone's battery and talking to her in person. Eventually, they said goodnight, Regina's voice ethereal, laced with sleep, telling Robin she'd see him tomorrow.

The next night, Robin meets Regina at the metro to walk her to his place, even though she insists that isn't necessary. He gets Indian takeout, which they both pick at throughout the night while discussing their elaborate lies for Regina's family, how long they have been dating, how their relationship came to be, why Graham sucks. She's come up with a good story, and that doesn't surprise Robin at all.

Regina starts to go through scenarios, if Cora says this, if Cora says that, and Robin has to laugh at how detailed she has made this story. But the more she talks about her mother's reaction, the more she draws in on herself. This time, when Regina feels the crushing weight on her chest, the fear of the future, Robin is there to notice right away. Robin sees the shift in her mood, notices how she is playing with her food, how her words sound just a bit slower, and forced.

"Can we take a break from this serious talk for a bit?" He asks, putting his food down on the coffee table.

"Sure. I didn't mean to overwhelm you with all this…it's just…" Robin is shifting towards her, his hands find her shoulders and she instantly sifts her body and tilts her head down so he has easier access to her neck. "Mmm…what have I done to earn a massage?"

Robin scratches the underside of her neck, playing with her hair, while his other hand kneads her right shoulder softly, drawing a soft moan out of her.

"Maybe I'm just trying to get you to shut up and relax a bit."

He has a talent for this, or he just knows her body well. Her body tingles and relaxes under his touch, he's drawing soft, pleased moans out of her that shouldn't be turning him on right now, she's hurting and this is about her, about helping her relax. He turns on the tv to reruns of Saturday night live, rubbing her gently until it's ready for bed.

"Thank you for doing all this for me" Regina sighs, half asleep. "You must think I'm crazy at my age to care this much what my mother…"

"I know your mother, Regina. I don't think you're crazy. And I like road trips, and I like spending time with you. It'll be a pretty nice weekend.

Regina laughs and bitterly disagrees. But he is a good influence on her, and as much as she hates to admit it to herself, she sleeps better, feels safer when he's just next to her. She cuddles closer

But as bad as the weekend looks on paper, it just doesn't feel that bad.

On Friday night Regina insists on doing laundry and getting ready for their weekend alone. She will bring luggage, since they are supposed to be on their way to New York, as far as her parents know, but Robin said they might as well bring a change of clothes just in case they feel like exploring the gardens of the garden state…surely there has to be something they can explore while they are up there.

Robin shows up at 6:30 the next morning, in his comfortable jeans and a tee shirt, leading Regina to cringe.

"Robin, I….the country club, it's jacket required, and uh…."

Robin smiled, pointing to a garment bag in the backseat. "Don't worry, milady" he says with a wink "I have an outfit to change into once we get there. I didn't want the outfit to get creased and wrinkled on our drive."

Oh.

She's in a haltered sundress, with a pastel paisley print preppy, flaring out just before her belly, no doubt picked particularly to hide the small change her stomach has overtaken in these last three months. It's incredible, really, how little her body has changed so far to an untrained eye. But Cora's eyes are very trained and focused, and she was no doubt worried about that, if the circles under her eyes were any indication.

"you look great." She looked down at her dress and shrugged her shoulders and grimaced, indicating she really didn't think she looked great. It was uncharacteristic for her to doubt her fashion sense or looks, but her mother always drew out that self doubt in her.

"So would you like me to take the first shift driving?" she asked with a false cheeriness. No, he didn't want her driving while she was worried sick about today.

"It's not a long drive, I would rather drive the whole way if that's okay with you."

"Ahh, so I'm being chauffeured today." She starts to open the passenger side door, but Robin gets to it first, opening it for her to get in.

"Indeed, milady." It brings a smile to her face.

"Ok you seriously need to stop calling me that."

It's been about two hours in the car and it's like old times. They can't find a decent radio station, so Regina puts her iphone on in shuffle mode. A mix of new and old songs play, Robin requesting a "pass" everytime one of her guilty pleasure songs comes on.

They are currently arguing over what is the best breakfast spot in Robin's neighborhood, and the diner in a trailer on the outskirts of the nicest part of town is Robin's, the upscale brunch place being Reginas.

And then those familiar three chords start playing on the radio. Regina freezes. It's Bush's _Glycerine_. It will always remind her of Robin, though she doubts he would remember. The night is significant to her for a reason he doesn't know.

She goes to turn the song but Robin's hand reaches out to grab her arm before she can touch her iphone.

"Leave it. Do you remember this?"

She smiled "Yes, I remember."

"This song always reminds me of you." He said with a laugh. She's surprised. She would have thought it would have reminded Robin of someone else.

* * *

 _Junior Year, 2006_

 _Robin wasn't the annoying kid who brought a guitar to parties. Really. But he did perform an open mic night that night. It was one of those first warm days of spring mid-way through the semester that had everyone in a good mood. After the open mic night he had stayed for a few drinks, and wound up at Will's place, with his stoner roommates. Will lived in an apartment close to campus that had almost been entirely overtaken by college kids, so it was easy to avoid noise complaints. There was no shortage of girls in that apartment at any given time, and there was no difference tonight._

 _It wasn't Regina's scene, but she hadn't made it to Robin's performance and wanted to celebrate with him, so she was there, Mary Margaret and Sara ("Tinks" as they called her), and of course Emma. Robin was asked by a young girl – probably a freshman – if he would play the guitar for her. In a matter of minutes almost everyone was sitting in a circle around the room, passing a joint while Robin took requests. Most of the song requests were awful, and Regina was amused at the look on his face when he was asked if he could do an acoustic version of Fergie's London Bridge._

 _Regina was sitting against the tv stand, her knees bent near her chest, watching these new girls in Will's smoky apartment treat Robin like he was a delectable treat they wanted to devour. And Regina couldn't blame them. He had the British accent going for him, he could turn nearly anything into an acoustic version, his voice was beautiful, and he was very, very good looking. He was directly across her, sitting on the couch, surrounded by fangirls and a few awkward looking men who were clearly just sitting there for the free pot. It was an amusing scene._

 _But she was most amused because Robin seemed slightly uncomfortable by all the attention. After he finished a shortened version of American Pie (he made them all sing along) he cocked his head at her raised and eyebrown and asked "Regina, do you have any requests? Are you going to challenge me to play a Rihanna song?"_

 _She shook her head. "Play Glycerine, by Bush" she inhaled the joint and passed it "If you know that song, that is."_

 _She knew very well that he knew that song inside and out, they often played it while they studied accounting last year, and it's one of the easiest songs to play on a guitar._

 _She expected him to whine and ask her to give him a serious challenge, but he lept into it._

 _Must be your skin I'm sinking in  
Must be for real, for now I feel_

 _And she forgot how sexy the song was, how Robins' voice was perfect to pour over these words. It nearly took the breath out of her as she saw him in a new light. She had never let her thoughts of her friend wander into lustful territory before, when people had accused them of being together she'd get angry, always maintaining he was not like that to her. But now...now things were different._

 _Couldn't love you more, you got a beautiful taste_

 _The mood changed in the room, it wasn't a sing-a-long, like when he played The Joker or American Pie. It wasn't funny like when he was trying to do his best acoustic impression of Lady Marmalade. There was a certain amount of awe around the room. He was truly talented, his voice was perfect for this song._

 _The whole time he just looked back at Regina. She just gave him a sultry smile back. His voice mixed with the alcohol and pot creating a warm tingling in her. Right then, she was fairly certain she did feel more than friendship for Robin, she always knew he was attractive, but now he looked irresistibly sexy, he had been a good friend to her for two years, and he seemed so uncomfortable with the praise he was getting which only seemed to make him hotter. In that moment, acknowledging she was pining for her friend didn't scare her, it was a comfortable realization as he sang, staring at her, making her fantasize about kissing him, taking him to bed._

 _The song was over quickly, and the small group rounded with applause, shaking Regina out of her hazy, not-so-innocent thoughts. She clapped along with them, winking at Robin as he winked back at her. The girl sitting at the foot of the couch right near Robin's legs looked up, rubbing his leg lightly._

 _"That was soooo good." She slurred. Regina tried to remember her name. Emily? Ann Marie? Whoever it was, she hated her. And she hated that Robin was smiling back at her, saying thank you and asking if she had a request._

 _"A Nelly song….Ride wit me?"_

 _Robin laughed. "I can do the chorus, but I can't remember all those lyrics." He paused for a moment, trying to work the song out in his head, and then lept into the chorus, after the chorus, the girls were filling in the lyrics as he played._

 _There was sudden a spark of jealousy that she had no reason to feel, and all these soaring happy, lovely feelings were being replaced by negative emotions, and Regina doesn't want to pull herself into sad or angry drunk territory. She left the room at that point, taking notice that the girl's hand was still on Robin's leg as she left. She moved between the two bedrooms and the kitchen, into the small groups of people that formed there._

 _The music dies down shortly after, Robin must be tired of playing songs for the last…hour? They have a mix playing now, and she laughs as Brian McKnight's Anytime plays. She makes a run to the kitchen to grab some beer for David and Tinks, promising to see if there's anything to eat that she can steal, and as she's gathering supplies to take back to the room, Robin approaches. He looks a little drunk, that much is clear, but also high, maybe on the new fans he acquired, maybe on the pot. Whatever it is has him bold enough to grab her by the waist, pull her towards to where he's decided to lean up on the counter._

 _"Why did you leave?" he said in a groggy voice._

 _"I played a good wingman, I didn't want to get in the way of all your new admirers"_

 _He laughed "Apparently women like men with guitars."_

 _"You are twenty years and just finding that out?"_

 _"Mm, I must be a late bloomer." He was stroking his hands up and down her hips, and she had wondered why. The conversation wasn't that intimate, and they weren't touchy feely like that. Her heart was racing, unclear what was happening. She should have removed herself from the situation immediately but she was paralyzed, she was enjoying the feeling of being in Robin's arms far too much."_

 _"You could have had a far better time in high school had you realized that you have the power to turn most women into putty in your hands with that voice."_

 _"Even you?"_

 _Regina scrunched her nose, annoyed by the implication. "I must be immune to your charms. I think that happens after you watch someone eat five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in on sitting?" She had tried to kill the mood, but he wouldn't let it go, his hands shifting to her back._

 _"I'll have to try harder to charm you in the future." It rolled off his tongue easily, but he couldn't have meant it. It was drugs, alcohol, performer's high, whatever. He wasn't looking at her eyes, his eyes were wandering up and down her body._

 _"You are very talented, and you should sing a Bush song everytime you want to get a woman into your bed" she blushed a bit more than she would have wanted, quickly adding "…but, I think somebody has reached his limit" Regina took the half full beer bottle out of his hand "I'm confiscating this." They are still so close, she feels his breath on her as she takes a sip out of the beer bottle, feels his hands tighten around her hips._

 _"You should drink beer out of a bottle every time you want to get a man into your bed" he breathed into her ear. Electricity had run through her veins at that point, but she told herself she was making too much out of it. She didn't want to be a random hookup for the night, not with Robin, not when she wasn't sure whether he really wanted her or just wanted someone for the night. Afterall, by her estimation it had been quite awhile since Belle. There's a moment of silence where they had just stared at each other. "I'm not really that far gone, Regina, and-."_

 _"You should go back to your fans. I need to get this," she pointed to the beers, a few brownies and a bag of chips, "to the hungry drunks in Dale's room."_

 _It was a cowardly move, but she was dangerously close to acting on impulse, and she wasn't in the right state of mind to make decisions that could potentially wreck a friendship._

 _She removed herself from Robin's arms, grabbing and squeezing his hand with a smile, and he left the kitchen as she gathered food to take back to the room._

 _"What the fuck was that?" Tinks was in the doorframe of the kitchen, and she had clearly watched the entire scene unfold, much to Regina's embarrassment._

 _"Calm down, I have your beer here."_

 _"That is not what I meant. I meant, what in the god damn hell was THAT? Why did you push him away? To a room of horny freshmen, no less? He likes you, I've told you that SO MANY TIMES, and you like him, you know I'm never wrong about these things, so what the hell?"_

 _"Tinks, I seriously, I don't feel that way about Robin."_

 _"You are hopeless" Tinks groaned._

 _As stubborn as Regina was, she couldn't resist making her way back to the living room to see Robin. It hadn't been more than a few minutes, but the tiny redhead who had requested a god damned nelly song was on his lap, facing him, trading small kisses with him. Regina rolled her eyes and left, innerly cursing herself for feeling things that weren't meant to be. And towards the end of the night, Robin thanked her for being such a good wingman._

* * *

Robin changed after that night. Or, rather, his sex life changed. It wasn't that he was disrespectful of women, but he had a lot of casual "relationships" before he found his Marian, and continued the casual hookups after Marian left him. Something about that night had given him more confidence, and all he ever needed was a bit of confidence, since he had everything else going for him.

Regina had been happy he had come into his own, recognized how uch he had to offer, gained some confidence. She really was happy for him.

But that damn song still embarrassed her, reminding her of those feelings of lust and jealousy she had for her friend, who she had no claim to at all.

"The song doesn't remind you of the little redhead you went home with that night?" Regina finally says in reply to him, choking back the emotions the heavy weight of nostalgia brought to her.

Robin laughed. "She passed out as soon as we got to my apartment and the next morning we went to breakfast. She was dating this frat guy named Drew, apparently. Not my finest ending to the night."

"Ah."

"But I will never forget how you tried to set me up that night. Very kind of you." Oh, if only he knew.

"How Robin got his groove back" Regina added.

"Yeah that….that night was a bit of an ego boost."

"You needed one."

The rest of the car ride is smooth, they reminisce about college, and chit chat a bit about Regina's childhood as they enter New Jersey. Robin makes a joke about Jersey girls, and she turns vehemently defends her homestate. They pull up to the country club, giving the valet Regina's parent's membership member and reservation for brunch.

Robin grabs the garmet bag with his "proper clothes" and pulls the valet aside. "We've had a long drive, and I wanted to make a good impression on my girlfriend's parents. I have a suit I need to change into, is there a place I could change, and return this garment bag back to you?"

The man stares back at Regina. He has her parent's reservation number and information in his hand, and he clearly knows them. "Cora's your mother?"

Regina nods "I'm afraid she is."

"Man, good luck. The changing facilities are in the spa, and that area is for members only, but there's the service changing rooms…" he points him in the direction to an outdoor entrance to the service room, Robin smiles and thanks him, tips him well, and runs off.

When he returns he's wearing a light gray suit, perfect for the time of year, a white, perfectly pressed dress shirt underneath. He pulls a pastel purple tie out of his pocket. "Is a tie required, because"

Regina shakes her head, "No, no tie, just…I like you like this. You look really good."

"Do I?"

He really, really does. REgina nods, still looking him up and down like a piece of meat, her look not unnoticed by Robin.

He's just introduced himself as the boyfriend in front of the valet, so perhaps that's why he draws her for a kiss at that moment.

"Let's get this over with" Regina says with a smile.

"You make this day sound ever more exciting and wonderful." He said with amused sarcasm. She jabs his elbow and they make their way into the club.

They are very early, showing up a good half hour before the reservation, but the club seats them anyway. Regina fidgets as they wait, sipping water, her hand shaking. Robin takes it in his hands. "Everything is going to be just fine" he soothed.

And at that moment, Cora and Henry appear.

"My darling!" Cora says, as Regina jumps up to hug her mother and kiss her on the cheek. Cora looks her up and down, as if there is something off she can't place. But then Henry is hugging her tightly.

"This is Robin. You've met him before."

Cora looks at him, an arched eyebrow "Have we?"

Henry offers Robin a hand shaking it heartily "Of course, Robin my boy. Cora, you remember, Regina's friend from college. She talks about him often. We just saw him last year at Walter's christmas party...and I believe he was there for Karina's graduation party."

"Indeed I was."

"I just don't know how my husband can keep track of all of Regina's friends" Cora says, sighing, "I'm afraid I can't remember over all the other friends she talks on about."

REgina bites her tongue. Truly, the only people she talks about are Robin and Emma...perhaps occasionally Mary Margaret, since her mother is interested in Mary. Mary comes from money, afterall.

"In any case, Robin, it's wonderful to meet you."

"And it's lovely to see you again." Robin shoots back with a smile.

Cora sits down putting a napkin to her lap. "So, Regina tells me you two are quite serious."

Regina sat down and took a big gulp of water. So much for an easy start.

Robin turns to look at her, looking genuinely touched.

"We are, absolutely."

"I usually don't meet her boyfriends so early in a relationship. She likes to hide them from me until they are more serious, I suppose."

"Mother…."

"I'm just being honest, dear." She's not just being honest, though. Regina wasn't the serial dater her mother was making her out to be, there had been only two serious relationships, Graham, and Daniel. The only relationship she kept from her mother was Jefferson, if you would even call it a relationship. What she and Robin had in their friends with benefits relationship was a billion times more than she and Jefferson ever were.

Henry coughed uncomfortably, opening the menu to search for a change in subject. "Now what looks good to you?" he asked Robin "I always get the crepes suzette."

"The lobster omelette caught my eye..." Robin said.

"So if I remember correctly, your father was in the air force? I know Regina told me your story before, the American with the British accent. " Henry jumps topics quickly, before Cora can interrupt.

"Yes, fell in love with my mother while stationed in the UK. They married, had me, and I lived on base for a bit. We moved back to the states when I was about eight. I still like to visit my mother's family there once a year, but it's harder now with work."

"And your mother made the transition from living in England to living here? She didn't mind leaving and following after her husband across an ocean." Cora asked.

"My mother's resilient" he says laughing. "I never remember her complaining about a thing besides missing her family around the holidays every now and then."

The conversation shifts into more light hearted topics, mostly at Henry's direction, and Regina thanks whatever god there is that her father is on this earth to make her mother a bit more palatable. Robin and Robin retell some stories about college, Henry watches the bantering, getting a sense for their obviously close rapport, as Robin jokes about Regina's little quirks, how she gets dressed up, even to go to a 24 hour diner, how she insists she doesn't want a dog yet continues to buy ARchie's dog toys whenever she is going to see him and has a picture of Archie's dog by her desk, Regina countering with a few well-time quips in his direction, drawing laughter out of Henry.

The mood is somewhat broken when Cora orders champagne, and Regina declines.

"It's one glass, dear, we're toasting to seeing you for the first time in six months, please join in the celebration." Regina groans, painfully aware that guilt trip was coming.

"I'll toast with water, if you don't mind. I'm not drinking right now."

"Ah." Cora looks over her and Regina starts to panic. "Are you on a cleanse? It's…." she sweeps another obvious look down her daughter's body, a disapproving look on her face. She grabs her daughter's hand and puts on that sickenly sweet concerned voice. "It's probably a good idea, sweetheart."

Regina starts to protest, but gives it up. What's the point? If her mother wants to tell her she's gaining a bit of weight, well, she's right. She's gained two pounds in the last three months and her mother is so fucking observant she'd noticed. Wonderful.

Robin has a frown on his face, as if he's thinking of what to say in response to Cora, but Henry draws him back into a conversation about the Yankees.

They are halfway through brunch, and things are going well. Regina had expected her mother to be drilling Robin with questions, but instead she had let the conversation go, while Robin talked about his job with Henry, explained his major, his passion for the environment, how happy he is to use engineering degree to public service.

Regina is genuinely interested in what he says, she smiles proudly at Robin as he speaks, squeezing his hand gently as he answers Henry's questions about various EPA regulations. She had always known Robin was smart, that he was competent at his job, she knew he loved his job, but he rarely speaks about it in their circle of friends. perhaps he doesn't want to brag.

Regina turns to catch her mother listening to Robin, with a look on her face that almost looks like approval, or at least, begrudging interest in what the man has to say.

"So I must ask" Cora interrupts, "When did you two start dating?"

Robin smiles and places his hand on Regina's back. "Months ago, it sort of happened…organically. As if it was meant to be."

Henry nodded. "you seem like you've been together for awhile."

"Regina dated Graham for….Regina, how long was it?" Cora looked at Regina for an answer she very well already knew.

Regina and Graham had started dating at the end of senior year of college. "Six years, mother."

"Yes, dating a friend after a six year relationship…I would have thought she would have needed more time to breathe than that."

"I guess sometimes I can surprise you." Regina shot back, staring daggers at her mother.

"Oh Regina, don't be defensive. It's just…unusual. That's what worried me about this arrangement. I wasn't expecting my daughter to be in a serious relationship so quickly after getting out of such a long, bad relationship."

"I understand" Robin said, his teeth clenched together.

"And you two being so close, did Regina tell you why Graham left?"

"Mom, please, I don't want to discuss this in public-" her mother waved her off, concentrating her eyes on Robin.

"She did" Robin answered cooly, picking up his glass of champagne

"And you know about her….diagnosis?"

"This is highly inappropriate" Regina muttered, staring daggers at her mother. What if he _hadn't_ known? Would this be her life, had she not gotten pregnant? Would her mother be asking every boyfriend she met if they knew Regina was infertile? What type of mother _was_ she?

"I know all about it." Robin responded. "It never bothered me." He looked directly at Regina, heartfelt. "It really never did."

"So you don't want children? Cora pressed on.

Reginas hand went to her forehead. "Oh my god."

"Darling, you said it was serious, and I can see it is. I only have your best interest at heart. I don't want to see you hurt again."

"I do want children" Robin says "I always have. But there are lots of ways to have children, and I'm not egotistical enough to think they have to be biologically mine. And if I were Graham, I certainly wouldn't have been hung up on the biological factor. I hope he can't reproduce, if I'm being completely honest."

Cora laughed then. _Laughed_. She never so rarely laughed in a way that was genuine, not forced polite laughter after cocktail parties. The sound of her laugh shocks both Regina and Henry, has them both staring at each other, shocked.

"Well I'd agree with you on that. I have no idea why Regina insisted on staying him for so long."

"I would assume because Regina loved him, and she's a kind person."

"Love" Cora rolls her eyes. "People say you can't help who you fall in love with, but I disagree."

"Can we stop berating me for Graham already?" Regina asked, fed up. "It's over, I'm completely over it, and you are all right, he was a bad match. I just didn't see it. Let's move on."

Someone ordered chicken and waffles (it's a deconstructed, fancy version on the menu, but it's chicken and waffles nonetheless) next to her. It's the smell of the chicken that does it – brings back the nausea she had hoped had all but gone away. She's running for the bathroom before she knows it, banging against tables on her way out.

"Regina?" Robin asks, worried. "Excuse me, I've got to…."

Cora keeps giving him that look, one of suspicion, distrust. Had she not known about Regina's diagnosis, she would have guessed it by now. The nausea, the desperate need to see her and prove that this was a solid relationship, the refusing to drink. It fit, except for the infertility diagnosis.

"You know what's wrong with her. What is it?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Mills, I'll be right back."

He puts down his napkin and walks to the bathroom, grabbing a mint from the Maître D's stand. She exits the bathroom sheepishly, and he hands her the mint as she gives him a grateful look.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, it was just out of nowhere with that smell, but I'm better now. Not well enough to withstand what's coming next, though."

She returned to her seat to find Cora's eyebrow raised. "What's wrong, darling?"

She could tell her it was the flu, or play dumb, but as soon as they went back to her parent's house she was going to tell them about the pregnancy, so what was the point in lying.

"It's nothing serious, mother. I would rather leave this conversation for when we go home, if that is possible."

Cora's eyes widen. "Are you….but you can't be…." But she knows, she knows that is what it is "… _pregnant?"_ she hisses the word, and Regina places her head in her hands.

"We should talk about this at home."

"How far along? How did this happen?"

Regina answers in a hurried, angry whisper "Just about twelve weeks...andI doubt I have to explain the birds and the bees to you mother."

"Don't you dare be smart with me right now." Cora says back in an angry whisper. "How, with your diagnosis…"

"The doctors don't know, it's a fluke, okay?"

"I am going to kill those doctors, they were highly recommended, oh, Dr. Patel is the best ob/gyn in DC, my ass. Unbelievable..." Cora quickly focuses her disappointment back to her daughter. "Oh Regina, I thought you were smarter than this…."

"Smarter than what?"

"It's one thing to have sex outside of a marriage, but unprotected, with a man you just started dating.."

"We didn't just start dating."

"It's Robin, dear" Henry says, reaching out his hand to cover her own.

"Why do you keep saying that, as if you know him? How are you so calm about this right now? This man… comes to see us, butters us all up, and now, we find out he's knocked her up, and…"

Henry nodded "I agree. It was poor play on your part. Can we really believe anything you say at this point, if you're going to keep something like that from us?"

"Mr. Mills, I am so very sorry, but…"

"You can't blame him, that was my request, lord knows I wanted to avoid making the scene at your club that we're making right now" Regina hissed back to the table. It was true, people were starting to notice the mood shift at their table, people were making longer and longer glances into their direction. The comment seems to bring Cora back down to earth.

"Fine, I just don't understand how I raised you to be so irresponsible. To not even have the decency to use a condom…"

"Oh for god's sakes mother I had a two doctors tell me I couldn't have children, the only good thing about that diagnosis was that I could enjoy sex without a god damned condom."

Robin grabbed a glass of water and put it to his mouth quickly to stifle the laugh that was bubbling out of him. That was his Regina, all fire, all honesty, it was nice to see it for a moment, she so rarely showed that side of herself when her mother was around. It was enough to shock Cora and her father for a moment, though Cora recovers quickly enough.

"I don't need to explain to you the uses of a condom beyond birth control, do I? Regina, have you been—"

"I'm going to have to interrupt. Regina knew she had nothing to worry about the night we were first together. I'm vigilant with my health. And I love your daughter, I would never put her in harm's way. We both made and error in judgment, relied on her diagnosis, but we can't change the past."

They had planned to say they were in love, that it was real love, but hearing him say he loved her his voice free of any doubt made her feel happy, grateful for this man, even if everything he said was an act.

"Henry get the check. We'll meet you back at home. We're going to work this whole thing out." Cora patted her napkin to her face, and standing up said "I'm going to freshen up. I'll see you all at home."

Henry called for the check looking at Regina with….disappointment. And that is what seemed to break her.

"I am so, so sorry dad." She said, "I didn't mean for this to happen, I just—"

"I just wish you would have told me sooner" he said, looking at his daughter, sadness written across his face. "You've had to have known for awhile. I just…I know your mother can be difficult, but I wish you had trusted me."

"And you" he turned to Robin, his eyes widening "I hope this wasn't an act. I hope you really do love her and support her, because if you don't….you've left her in quite the position, haven't you?"

Regina feels it. Guilt. Deceiving her mother is one thing, but her father is another. And now here he is, begging Robin to stay with her, when they have lied about the whole relationship.

"I have no intentions of hurting your daughter. I want to be as much in her life as she will let me. I am promising that to you."

He looks so genuine, and she wants to scream, to tell him he can't lie to her father, to call the whole thing off and just admit there's no relationship, there's nothing, and she's exactly as desperate and sad (and let's face it, slutty) as her mother thinks. But then she knows she will be at her mother's mercy, will be so easily beaten down she'll listen to whatever her mother decides to do to "fix" the situation, and the thought of being under Cora's control again is too much. She hates that she has to lie to her father. But she'd like to spare her child the torment Cora put her through in whatever way possible, and right now Robin was all that was keeping her from conceding failure and letting her mother run her life again as if she were a teenager again.

Henry tells them to grab their car and meet them at home while he waits for Cora, leaving Regina grateful she doesn't have to face her mother for a few more minutes.

* * *

"So" Robin says, breaking the silence. "That went rather well, I'd say."

Regina shoots him a dirty look, but is unable to stop herself from laughing as she sees his amused expression staring back at her.

"Everything was fine until that god damned person ordered chicken. It's really that person's fault, if you think about it."

"Definitely."

As they get into the car Regina leans back, sighing. "It was going pretty well at one point. I mean, you were laying it on pretty thick."

Robin shook his head "Well other than the necessary lies, I was pretty truthful."

Regina shrugged her shoulders, recalling one of his lines. "You want to be in my life in any way I will let you?"

"Technically true." Robin responded, smiling. "I've already offered to marry you, remember?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see your face if I accepted that proposal."

Robin laughed, noting her discomfort, dropped the conversation in favor of teasing her about the fascinating surroundings of New Jersey a bit more.

* * *

"So" Cora said, as they sat down to a kitchen table that had previously been set for a dessert. "Have you given proper consideration to all your options, Regina?"

"I have, mother, my mind is made up. I'm keeping the child."

Cora walked over to grab a whistling kettle of tea, bringing it to the table and pouring it into the four, beautiful antique tea cups at every place setting. Appearances were still important, even if they were presently dancing around the subject of an abortion or adoption.

"Darling, being a single mother is difficult, more difficult than I believe you know, and…."

"She won't be a single mother." Robin responded quickly. "At least, she won't be doing this alone. I'm going to support her and help as best I can."

"On a government salary?"

"Mother, do not insult his job!"

"I make a good living. And I didn't just mean that I would offer financial support."

"If you are sure you're having this child, I think the best thing to do is move in with us. I will get you a job at J&J, there's some sort of public relations area we can fit you in. And you'll be well cared for, everyone will accept you. We can make up whatever story we can come up with to spare your reputation. You won't have to deal with the shame people will put you through for being an unwed mother"

"I am not running away and going into hiding. This is not the 1960s., and this isn't something to be ashamed of. I'm nearly thirty, other."

Cora sighed, her fingers rubbing either side of her temples. "It's not just the shame… Regina, what are you going to do? I know you can't afford that place on your own since Graham left, I know you had mentioned getting a roommate, but with a child on the way you won't be able to get a roommate. You must have nearly ate through all your savings, what happens when that runs out in a few months?"

And then it hits Robin. The fact her cable "wasn't working" those few times he was over, her insistence on home cooked meals instead of takeout despite her nausea, she grocery shopped at that discount store now instead of the Whole Foods right by her apartment…it all made sense. And he was an idiot for not seeing she was struggling financially before this. Regina shot him an apologetic look that mirrored the look he was giving her back. They didn't plan for this, Regina must not have wanted to admit the money would be a problem, and had hoped her mother wouldn't nail it right away.

"I can find a cheaper place, and have someone sublet….or…"

"Stay with us until you find a new place. " Henry spoke up. " Gold lets you telecommute doesn't he? And Robin can visit on the weekends. It's a good solution, Regina"

Regina seemed on the fence about their plan, and Robin was terrified, knowing they would soon convince her to do this. Once she was gone, Cora would have her. She wouldn't come back. He'd lose her to weekend visits, eventually to whatever custody agreement they had, while her mother set her up with wealthy older divorcees from the country club. It was all too much, and Robin was speaking up before he could think otherwise.

"Regina and I haven't formally discussed this, but I was hoping she would move in with me. I have a three bedroom townhouse to myself."

Regina kept her face cool and smiled at him as if it were a great idea. But under the table she squeezed her nails into his legs. She wasn't happy. Well, neither was he. He wasn't going to lose her. This ideas of her parents was preposterous.

"Where?" Cora asked, surprised.

"It's in Silver Spring, which is…"

"Ohhh, I know where Silver Spring is" Cora laughed. "I suppose it's not that bad, it's not as if you have to worry about the school district. Is it safe there? I'll admit it's been awhile since I have had the pleasure of venturing out to _Silver Spring._ "

"Perfectly safe. I'm sure you're aware to Silver Spring went under a revitalization ten years ago?"

"Of course, but I've heard that went through with mixed success."

"You should visit my home sometime, I will show you the neighborhood."

"I still think you'd be better with us, dear." Cora focused her eyes on her daughter, taking grabbing her arm so she could find Regina's hand. Cora was drawing soothing circles on her palm, probably some technique she used on Regina as a child that she was hoping would still soothe her into agreeing to what she said.

"I…" Regina sighed. "I have a job I like, friends, I have a life down there. I don't want to run away from it. I understand how these things were when you guys were younger but now it's hardly the scandal." She pulled her hands away.

"Do you plan to get married?" Cora asked plainly. She was proving a point, not really looking for an answer.

There's silence until Robin fills it. "I think that's a topic Regina and I should discuss ourselves, first."

"A child will complicate everything" Cora warns, "You may think you are in love now, but handling a child together and coparenting this early in the relationship? God help you two."

"It'll be a daunting task, no doubt." Robin concedes. 'But I welcome the challenge."

Cora groans. "Regina, I am going to have to insist that you…."

Henry spoke up, "Cora dear, she wants to stay with him, and he doesn't want to let her go. We're not going to convince them to do otherwise."

"We should be headed out." Regina sighed, stepping up. I am sorry for dropping this on you, but there is no easy way to break this news."

She hugged her father tightly, whispering how sorry she was yet again, then followed with a polite hug and kiss on the cheek of her mother.

"Are you truly going to New York, or was that part of the rouse?"

"We considered it. It depends on how Regina's feeling." Robin was taking the lead on their answers now, their rehearsed answers, and Regina was grateful.

"Well you two take care, whatever you've decided. And Regina, I'll send you some nutritional advice for moving forward in the pregnancy. You have to stay healthy during the pregnancy, and you will get urges to overeat, don't' listen to those urges. Weight gain during pregnancy is difficult and I'd hate for you to put on too much weight…."

Regina nodded smiling politely and blocking out the words her mother said. She turned to look at Robin, surprised to see that her father had taken him to the living room and was talking to him.

 _uhoh_

"Thanks, mom. I appreciate the advice" Regina said "Please excuse me."

She walked up behind her father catching what he said.

"She's been through a lot, is all I am saying. With Daniel, I know in some ways she never really…"

"Don't..don't bring him up, please." Regina said from behind her father, startling him. "This has nothing to do with him."

Henry nodded, backing down easily. "It's just that…relationships are just easier when there's no strong feelings either way. You can live your life, you can be selfish. Recover quickly from a breakup." Henry looks in her eyes, smiling softly at her, and she knows he's talking about Graham. And he's not wrong, her feelings for Graham were never quite what they should have been, she never let herself get that close. But that had nothing to do with her pregnancy, or her relationship with Robin.

"Dad, I don't understand the connection you are making…."

Henry pauses again, grabbing her hand. "I am not your mother. I know why you were with Graham, why you went from Daniel to something…easier. I don't blame you. But now, this is different, isn't it?"

Guilt flares up in Regina's gut again as she realizes they have fooled her dad, very, very well into believing she's passionately in love with Robin. How did it get to this point?

"It's just I don't want you to get hurt, sweetheart." He turned to Robin. "Be careful with her."

And with that they live the beautiful home of Cora and Henry Mills.


	4. Chapter 4

There's a silent standoff in the car. Robin knows she's mad, and she is well aware he's not too happy at her at the moment either, but each are stubbornly committed to staying silent. That is, until Robin makes a turn off the turnpike.

"This is not the right way home."

"I thought we'd spend the night up here. I found this place – you said Jersey isn't entirely paved and it's by a national park, I thought it would be nice to see it, there's a jacuzzi"

Regina rolled her eyes "I can't step foot _in_ a Jacuzzi for quite sometime, I'm pregnant." She gritted her teeth. "I want to get home. Now." Regina was curt, cold, angry. But resolved to not start this fight. No, she'll let Robin initiate things.

With a deep sigh, Robin yet again concedes defeat on their little game – why he thought she'd be the first to say what is bothering her is beyond him.

"You're upset."

"Yes, you're very intuitive. Turn around and take me home." She looked out the window , her body curled against the passenger's side door, as far as she could let from Robin. She hated him right now. Except she didn't. She hated herself. She didn't want to tell him about her money problems post-Graham. It was embarrassing and beneath her. She had been holding her breath, hoping it didn't come up this weekend, hoping her mother didn't put two and two together and realize she couldn't afford her place on her salary. But that wasn't very smart, was it? And now Robin had said they were going to live together. Proclaimed it without really asking her first. Trapping her. They weren't in a real relationship and this was just going to further complicate everything, completely blur the lines between them during a time when they should be clarifying their relationship as two parents living separate lives, not a couple.

Robin took a deep breath in. "As much fun as the next 5 hours sound in the car with you right now, I'm not much in the mood to drive back to DC."

Regina rolled her eyes and took out her phone. "Fine. Stop at the next rest stop. I'll get my own ride."

Robin snorted. "Who is going to drive you from here all the way home on a moment's notice? Come on Regina-"

"Emma will do it" Regina snapped, and oh, that's right. Emma would drive up to pick her up 5 hours away and turn around back for Regina. Robin both loved and hated Emma for it.

He had 7 miles til the next rest stop to convince her to stay with him and talk this out.

"Why didn't you tell me money was tight?" He finally asked, "What was I supposed to do when that came up, Regina? You planned for everything. You planned for your mother asking about my dual citizenship! We went over what to say if she asked about our holiday plans post-child, for god's sake. But this? You didn't clue me in to what to do if _this_ ever came up."

"Yes, which meant you should have just shut up and let me handle it! And stop getting yourself involved and us getting ourselves into an even bigger mess." She said staring out the window. She had been paying for an apartment herself, an apartment she used to split with Graham. Of course things were tight, but she was surviving. And she was going to figure a way out of it, if everyone would just give her a damn minute.

Robin focused his eyes on the road, his heart was pounding. There were two directions to go in response to Regina now. He could blow up at her – this was afterall, her doing. She was the one who wanted him to play boyfriend with her, she was the one who kept this from him, and he drove all the way up to her parent's house to introduce himself and put on this farce for her, and now the one mistake he made - which, less face it, was less of a mistake and more of a nice gesture that saved Regina from caving to her horrible mother.

He wanted very much to scream at her right now, to let his temper take over, complain about how she was treating him after he woke up at the crack of dawn to put on a god damn charade for her in front of her parents. But he knew she felt guilty about that already, and she was still very much pregnant. He wasn't going to upset her any more.

"Why did you want me here when you told your parents about the baby?"

"Honestly I can't remember why anymore" Regina muttered, staring out the passenger window.

"I think it's because you didn't want them to push you into a decision you didn't want to make."

"They weren't going to convince me to have an abortion" she groaned.

"That's not what I mean. You didn't want our mother using the child to gain more control of your life, right? Everything we planned for – every scenario you brought up – it was all about trying to get your mother to stop trying to micromanage this situation."

"What's your point?" Regina shifted a bit in her seat, uncomfortable. Robin shifted his eyes off the road for a second to find her gaze had dropped from out the window to her lap, and she was playing with her hands a bit. He knew her well enough to know she was all but acknowledging he was right.

"I felt like you were caving to the idea of moving to New Jersey. That's why I said something."

Regina snapped her head up, and replied icily "Well, I wasn't. I'm not as weak as you apparently think."

"It's not weakness, Regina. Your mother is a master manipulator. You've told me the stories. If she can manipulate leaders of congress it doesn't seem like much of a stretch that she can manipulate her own daughter."

"I wasn't going to move away. I just needed a minute to think of a plan – just a minute – and you jumped in and came up with the worse possible solution!"

It stung, being told living with him was the worst possible solution. Cut more than he thought it would, knocking the breath out of him and leaving him speechless temporarily.

"Plus" she added, after a few minutes of silence. "I don't appreciate being handed charity from my best friend."

Being called her best friend both healed and hurt, at least it was something, but yet, not enough.

"If I couldn't make my mortgage, would you offer me a place to stay?"

"Of course, but it's not the same -"

"And would you feel like you were doing some sort of charity?" he asked, quickly, trying to hide his rising temper.

"No." She responded quietly. "But you didn't offer your place because you _wanted_ to live with me. you did it because you thought you _had_ to, but you don't. I'm not your obligation."

"For fucks sake Regina, sometimes I feel like you don't know the first thing about me." he growled. The idea that he didn't want her there and offered out of an obligation?

"What I'm saying is that if you were losing your house you'd have a hundred options of who to live with, and none of those roommates would have to change much at all, because it's not like you're pregnant or come with a child attached to you. But unless you're stupid, you know that by offering to move me in, you're basically offering to change your whole lifestyle."

"What lifestyle is that?" Robin asked, gritting his teeth "Give me a heads up, on a scale of 1-10, how offended am I going to be?"

Regina sighed, ignoring his sarcasm. "I need a roommate who doesn't like hosting parties that go until all hours of the night, because I'm tired and find I need more sleep lately. Moving twice while I'm pregnant is going to be tough, so if I move in with you I might still be there when the baby gets here. And that means we'll have to baby proof your townhouse, which, frankly, is pretty much a bachelor's pad and I don't think baby gates will go with your particular design. You'll have to deal with hearing a screaming infant at all hours of the day and night. And I won't" Her voice changes a little, sounds weaker, more hurt. "…I'm not going to be able to deal with the late night female visitors you have over once the baby is here, I don't want strangers in the house with the baby while I'm doing things such as breastfeeding….so…it'll change your nights out with the guys, or you'll end up having to indulge in some hotels, and this is a lot for you."

"Alright. You outdid yourself. Insulted me more than I thought possible. Congratulations. You know after ten years I'd think you'd know me just a little but maybe you are just that self centered that -"

"Yes I'm a terrible person, and you just fucking volunteered to move in with me, real fucking smart. This is why this was a bad idea." The rest stop was ahead, he pulled into it. Regina took out her cell phone again, when she put the phone to her ears, he knew she had called Emma.

"Don't tell her to come and get you yet." Robin said while parking, his eyes pleading. "Let's go in and have a coffee and maybe you get yourself something to eat since you threw up your brunch."

He could hear the ringing from Regina's phone. She ignored him for a second, but Emma didn't answer. She sighed and ended the call.

"Even if I call her now we have plenty of time to talk before she gets here" Regina reminded him. "Why did you stop here if you didn't want to drop me off?"

Robin's fists are clenched, and he's so, so angry at her he thinks he might say something to drive her away for good. What did he have to do to convince her he was ready to be a father? She was acting like he'd continue to be the man riding out his twenties with the usual Thursday night bar scenes, the meaningless women he would see (that he hadn't even missed since the first time he took Regina to bed, and he doubt he'd ever miss again), the ridiculous immature parties. Everything changed the second he realized he was going to be a father. He thought that should be obvious.

"Look, I really need to talk to you, and I can't it while I'm driving, I'm getting too upset. Just come in with me for coffee, or something. Please?"

She nods, her eyes still looking away from him. She hasn't looked him in the eye since they left her parent's house, and he wonders if she's afraid she'll get too angry if she looks directly at him, or if possibly, she's worried she'll stop being angry if she looks at him. Regina's emotions are still very much a mystery to him.

When she first steps out of the car looking battered, Robin realizes how exhausted she must feel. Some of his anger dissipates as he realizes she appears just as upset and hurt as he is.

But then she's not paying attention and nearly walks into the path of a car driving by. It's a quick thing – Robin doesn't even think about it when he grabs her arm and pulls her back to him, for a second losing his breath at the thought of her being hurt. She's muttering something under her breath he knows must be along the lines of "I was fine", but suddenly, he doesn't care how fine she thinks she was, and he doesn't care that they are in the parking lot of a very crowded rest stop, and he doesn't care that she is quite possibly, still irrationally angry at him.

He pulls her closer, into a hug, tightening it when she goes stiff, thanking the universe that she isn't trying to push him away, because he won't force affection on her, but he doesn't think he could break away from her right now. In what seems like forever she drops her head to his shoulder, and another eternity before she wraps her arms around him, hugging him back.

"I'm sorry" he says. He truly _is_ sorry because he's upset her, though he has no idea what he's done to make her this upset. What he does know is he doesn't like it when she's this cold to him, and he'd do anything to prevent her from treating him as if he were nothing to her. It's an empty feeling, and a terrifying one.

"No, I'm sorry. " she says softly.

"Regina…" he pulls back from the hug enough to meet her eyes, "I know exactly what I signed up for—"

"Let's go inside" Regina cuts off, and he realizes her skin is a bit flushed, can't figure out whether it's the unseasonably warm day or the fact that they are having a very emotional conversation in front of a very busy parking lot.

The rest stop smells like fried chicken and cinnamon rolls and air freshener all mixed as one, and Robin is suddenly worried for Regina, who's been sensitive to smells lately.

But she handles it like a champ, walks over to order a slice of pizza, which seems like a safe choice for Robin as well. They grab a booth near a corner, thankfully out of the way from the crowds and the noise of rest stop. God knows where all these people were going.

Regina looks down at her food, picks at it a bit, taking deep sips of her diet sprite instead. She won't meet his eyes. Robin grabs her hand, laces his fingers around her.

"The first thing I need you to know," he starts "The thing that I thought you already knew awhile ago – is that I'm done being the guy who picks up random women."

Robin knew of his reputation with women, he had been lightly teased about it. He had his share of women before, but he became known for picking girls up from bars after Marian broke his heart. Regina had witnessed him leave their group of friends on various nights for a new, just-out-of-college girl, attracted to him because he was subtle with flirting, very nice, approachable – easier than the your typical single guy trying to get laid. He always seemed like the type of guy who wouldn't normally go for a one-night stand, and that alone is why he ended up getting so many. It had become a joke amongst his friends, and he knew it had – who would Robin try to seduce tonight, and would he be successful?

There was something exciting and thrilling about it at first, but it had now become boring. The sex was always a let down from what he hoped it would be, and the last few times the evening ended with him regretting quite a bit.

She lets out a small laugh, and he groans. "I was done with it before I knew I was going to be a father."

That is when she turns to look at him, skeptically, with a doubtful small smile on her face.

"Truly, Regina, I was already getting bored before you and I…first ended up getting together but that sealed the deal. Have you seen me even try to pick someone up since we first slept together?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "I expected you to not continue that in front of me, given our circumstances."

"You can ask anyone, it's not interesting to me anymore. It stops being fun and exciting and new, and without those feelings, most of the time it's actually quite awful."

She laughs, "yes, sleeping with beautiful strangers uncommitted sounds horrible.'

He laughed back. "They weren't all beautiful, and if you really thought it was so wonderful, you'd be doing it yourself every night."

"It's different for women." Regina reminded him, but her voice was softening.

Robin squeezed her hand. "I'm not saying we were in a relationship, but I'm saying I didn't sleep with anyone else after I was with you because it was far better with you. I had already decided I was ready to try a relationship again. I only ever stopped because I had my heart crushed, and you know that."

"I do. I've been there, I just didn't really…sleep around much when I was getting over a broken heart."

"Well, you just slept with me."

She rolled her eyes. "Graham didn't break my heart. My father already said it - I didn't have a strong emotional connection to Graham. I loved our life together though. It was…comfortable." Regina drew her face into a little scowl, searching for words. "When he left me, I was deeply insulted, and embarrassed and surprised. We were together for six years. I really didn't know he cared that strongly about anything, didn't even know how much he wanted a child. We had a good relationship, we rarely fought, we didn't need to be together all the time, it wasn't that exhausting all-encompassing type of love that I had with…" she doesn't like to even say his name out loud, saying it brings back a flood of memories. "Daniel."

Robin nodded. The subject of Daniel always brought a reverent, somber mood. He didn't really know her well when Daniel's death was fresh, a sudden car accident, but he knew she hadn't handled it well, knew it contributed to the person she was today, though he'd never know the person she was before Daniel, so he'd never know the difference.

"I don't want that type of relationship again." She says softly, painfully. "I'm not making one person my everything again."

And suddenly, she was making a bit more sense to Robin. Why she fought meaningful relationships, why she was sometimes so distant with him. She was fighting him - fighting _them_. Didn't want Robin to become as important as Daniel. She wasn't truly emotionally stunted. She was just scared.

Now wasn't the time to convince her to get over her fears. So he shifted the conversation.

"The child is going to be your everything" he says softly, "I know you, you won't be able to help it."

"I know" she looked down again at her now-cold pizza. "But that's different. Children don't want you to rely on them, they just need you to love them and take care of them and they don't need to give anything in return. I don't need to worry about becoming too dependent on a child."

"Living with me won't destroy your independence, Regina." There's no answer from her, and oh, that's the problem.

She's silent for a moment and then adds, "I don't want you to feel trapped. I want you to be able to leave, take a breather from us, whenever you want."

"I don't feel trapped. I'm truly excited about this child. And why do you want me to have all this distance from the infant whenever I want? Why should the baby only have to change _your_ life? Why can't it change mine too? And why can't I be happy about that change?"

"Will was supposed to move in with you" she reminded him.

Robin shook his head, exasperated. "He's well-aware I'm having a baby and he's already looking for a new place. Do you honestly think he wants to be a roommate to someone who has overnights with a newborn?"

Regina sighed. "I can't remember you ever mentioning that you wanted to be a father before."

Robin shrugged "Never once have you told me you wanted to be a mother" he reminded her. "But I've always wanted children. What do you think I was thinking about when I got a three bedroom townhome on the outskirts of the beltway all to myself?"

"To show off?" Regina asked, causing him to laugh.

"Not _only_ for that reason, and not only because it was a good investment, and not only because my mother wanted me to use my share of my grandfather's inheritance well. I saw myself settling down soon."

She doesn't say anything, but finally begins to eat, which makes him happy. After a few moments of diving into his own pizza he speaks again.

"So, in summary. I want this child, I didn't want to tell you just _how much_ I wanted this child in case you didn't, I didn't want you to feel guilty about whatever decision you made, or whatever happened in early term. But the thought of having a child to care for, to teach, to love – all that makes me very happy. It's not a burden. It's a gift, Regina. And I was already breaking out of all those bad habits, because I very much want to be the dad this child deserves."

It seems like minutes pass with her staring down at her pizza in silence, before she finally speaks.

"I'm exhausted." She says a little quiet, a little cold. "Let's go to wherever we're spending the night.

It's a nice cabin. It's not a camping cabin like she had feared. It's a home, in a little wooded area by a park, with exposed wood but with full amenities, a nice kitchen, a big tv, and a king size bed as well as a separate room with bunk beds, so she has the option of sleeping separately, which, under the circumstances, is probably a good idea (but let's face it, she thinks bitterly, she'll sleep in his bed because she hates being apart with him, because she's far too dependent on him because his smell and his arms are the most comforting thing she has in her life right now ).

They had to stop for groceries on the way, or he insisted on it, a few items for Regina and himself, and apparently he's going to cook for her tonight.

It's the first weekend in October, but it's as hot as summer, and when they walk in the little cabin it's stifling hot, and Robin immediately tells her there is air conditioning and rushes to find the thermostat to turn on the air. He looks nervous, unsettled, like he's afraid of her. Silly, she thinks. If anything he should know he has her wrapped around his finger. Even if it was a matter of pride, she isn't one for empty threats and when she told Robin she was calling Emma to come and get her, she meant it. But then the thought of leaving him, of leaving _them_ in such a bad place seemed intolerable, made her feel physically ill, and right then and there she knew she'd probably follow Robin wherever he led her.

And that terrified her.

Robin is putting groceries in the fridge, and she shuffles off the bedroom to put her luggage away and to change out of her (borderline tight) dress into cotton shorts and a tank top, pushing her hair into a high ponytail. She suddenly feels lighter, more free, realizing the halter top had dug into the back of her neck, coughing her to develop a slight headache and some definite neck pain.

She walked back to catch Robin peeling off his shirt and undershirt, and is hit with a pang of arousal. She's seen him naked a hundred times but she never really gets tired of it. His tie and jacket are on the little kitchen table and throws his button-down shirt and then the undershirt on the table from where he stands at the fridge.

"Putting on a strip show are we?" she asks, with amusement in her voice. She is supposed to be mad at him, for a reason she can't remember but she IS supposed to be mad at him, and she shouldn't be flirting with him.

He looks up, winks at her, "Now that we have a child to support it's time I get a second job so we can start a college fund."

Regina rolled her eyes, did her best to look annoyed, but she couldn't hide the amused smirk from forming at her lips.

"So what should my stripper outfit be? Sexy cop? Sexy fireman?"

Regina scrunched up her nose, shaking her head. "You? Sexy forest ranger? Sexy boy scout leader? Do they make tear-away khaki cargo shorts?"

He laughed at the idea. "Khaki shorts and tube socks, the sexiest of stripping outfits."

She nodded with a smile. "So, what did you have planned for us today?"

He looks back at the fridge with a sigh. "There's some hiking. There's a lake. I was going to see if I could coax you into a little hike and a little swim in the lake – I know how you feel about still water and bacteria and all that but…I thought I could be convincing…"

"I didn't bring a swim suit anyway" she said flippantly.

"You left one at my house and I packed it for you." He said with a smile. "But, there will be time for all of that tomorrow. I didn't anticipate today to be as…draining. Physically and emotionally." He's looking at her in that tender way now, the look she both loves and hates. Hates because it seems too close to pity, or maybe because it just seems like he can see right through her. "You should sleep" he says softly.

But no, no, she can't really sleep now. She said she was exhausted earlier and she _was_. She was exhausted of talking about living together, exhausted of fighting, but truth be told, the anxiety-riddled morning with her parents had pumped her through of adrenaline, and she was high on it now, unable to come down. Too riled up to fall into an easy sleep.

"I can't really sleep," she said, her hand finding the back of her neck, rubbing it to soothe the ache, "I'm too…."

"Tense?" Robin asked and he was walking towards her, his hand meeting hers behind her neck. That's not it, exactly, but it's somewhat true. She is tense.

"Sore neck from sitting in the car for hours maybe? Let me rub your back, it'll help you relax."

She doesn't argue, she leans into his bare chest and nods her head. He's walking her to the couch a second later and she sits with her legs sprawled out on the couch, her back to Robin sitting on the couch behind her, who never takes his hands away from rubbing her back.

He has good hands. He knows how to soothe her aching muscles. Probably because he had years of experience getting to know her body, especially in the recent history. It's easy to get lost in the feeling, but it's not making her tired, exactly. It feels good. Really good. A familiar tingly ache is in the pit of her stomach. She should blame the pregnancy hormones, not her own heart. It's not as if Robin was trying to seduce her with a perfectly innocent backrub.

He pulls at her tank top, going to lift it – he's done this before, he knows it's better to rub her bare back, but he still asks "This alright?" and she finds herself nodding

And when the tank top slips up, rubbing against all-too sensitive nipples on its way up, she inhales sharply to bite back a moan at the sharp pang of desire she feels, warmth spreading from her nipples to a lower, much more sensitive place. She squeezes her thighs together as an almost knee jerk reaction.

Hopefully he didn't notice. It would be mortifying if he noticed.

But he probably did notice, because he is Robin. He at least heard the damn-near gasp she made.

And his voice is smooth and almost concerned when he asks "You alright?"

"mhm" she responds absently. And she pauses, thinks of an excuse but there is none. "I'm pregnant, so even the fabric of my tank top moving over my breasts is like…I dunno, they are just really sensitive."

"Oh." He pauses for a beat before rubbing her sides, right by her breasts and she inhales sharply again.

"Good sensitive, though?" he asks, and she can almost hear the smirk he must be wearing now, can almost hear that smugness in his voice.

"Don't be so proud of yourself" she bites back, "It's the pregnancy hormones making me turned on at the drop of the hat, for the past few weeks it's like the littlest thing—"

"For the past _few weeks_?" he asks, almost angrily. There's a pause, and then his hands come from behind to stroke her thighs. She lets out another sigh, frustrated her body betrays her like this.

"Regina" he almost purrs as his hand makes his way up her inner thighs, caressing her, til one hand tugs at the hem of her tiny shorts, moving upwards until his hand is stroking her sex, clearly able to feel how wet she already is - she can hear his breath draw when he feels her, and she's wondering whether she just ought to let this happen when he screws everything up and says "let me take care of you."

His words are like a bucket of ice water on her building desire, and she gets up quickly.

"I do not need you to _take care_ of me. I'm perfectly fine taking care of myself." She gets up, because he's not tossing her a pity fuck, not fucking her because he thinks she needs it.

He's getting up, walking after her, and finally grabs her shoulder, turning her to face him. "Okay, what is going on?"

"I don't want…" she gestures in the air to the couch, " _that_ because you think you owe it to me. Like you giving me a happy ending after a backrub. I just—look, it's only good for me if you want it too, and you haven't really wanted me –"

Robin lets out a guffaw at that moment.

"I haven't wanted you?"

"You haven't even tried to touch me since I told you about the baby, and I get that things are different, and _I'm_ different, I'm not upset about it or anything…"

"I haven't touched you because I don't know the rules here. And there was never a good time to bring this up. You were sick. And sad. And nervous. And—"

"And I was getting fat" she finished, walking to the kitchen, for what reason she didn't know, she just couldn't look at him and be near him while they talked about this.

But he followed her into the kitchen, laughing – _laughing_ at what she said.

"Regina, you look exactly the same."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come with me a second." He holds out her hand.

Sheer curiosity has her taking his hand and following him. He sits on the couch, directing her to stand in front of him between his legs. She feigns a minor protest but his eyes plead her to stay. "Indulge me for a second" he says, taking each of her hands in his own hands.

"I don't know what you see in the mirror," he says, smiling at her, "but you're going to get bigger, you will. You're carrying a child. But the thing is, you haven't really changed at all yet."

He moves her hands over her thighs. "Same legs."

Over her hips.

"same hips"

Reaches around behind so she's touching her ass

"Same great ass"

She laughs as he moves her hands over her breasts.

"Those are bigger, I'll give you that, but that's not really a bad thing."

She bites her lip, and then moves her own hands down to her stomach. His follow hers, still on top of hers.

You couldn't really see the difference, oh, but you could feel it. She shifted her hands out from underneath his purposely, flipping the hold and pressing his hands against her stomach. It was softer, fluffier. Her stomach used to be as flat as a board, with maybe a thin soft layer over it, just a soft layer of skin under hard abs.

Now, it was very soft, and there was a slight roundness to it, a slight roundness that was unmistakeable. Robin bit his lip, trying to keep from smiling. She was proving him wrong.

"You feel softer, but you look the same. And soon you're going to get bigger but honestly Regina," he takes a deep breath in, sighing. "this pregnancy isn't going to stop me from wanting to fuck you all the time. I don't know anything that would change that. " she lets out a small giggle squeak out before she rolls her eyes and lets out an exasperated groan. But it comes too late.

"For weeks you haven't even—"

"For weeks you've been driving me crazy." He finished for her.

"You barely even look at me."

She needs to hear it, so Robin takes the bullet and decides to confess. "You think I'm asleep while you're getting ready in the morning, but I'm not."

Her eyes widen for a second and then she cocks her head to the right "You've been spying on me?"

"I've been watching you shimmy into those skirts and those dresses every morning, do you even know how sexy you are when you get ready for work? The little dance you do in the mirror each day when you're checking to make sure your clothes are spotless, making sure they fit exactly right, double checking your makeup, brushing your hair til it's just right…." He laughs "It's sort of OCD, but I love it, and seeing you naked in between the occasional wardrobe change isn't bad either. Oh, and I got to see those little hints of cleavage weren't happy accidents, it's all quite contrived."

Regina winces, thinking of how she'd adjust her top just so, to make sure that only a hint of skin was exposed. She flushes red.

Robin goes on. "That fucking beautiful black dress, with that square neckline" he grabs her hands, pulling her toward him, encouraging her to sit on his lap. She does, straddling him. She gives a little smile, biting her bottom lip. "you were adjusting the cleavage just so, and you had…" he groaned, just the memory of it, "fucking lace panties and that little bra" his hands are caressing over her skin now, and she's melting into the touch. "I wanted to grab you, strip you out of those clothes, and fuck you right then."

His mouth is drawn to her neck, and she tilts her head to give him more access, her hands on either side of his neck. "Why didn't you?" she asks, a bit breathless.

"I didn't think you'd let me make you late to work" he growls into her neck as he plants kisses down her neck, onto her shoulder. "I regretted it, when you bent over in the mirror to adjust your makeup right before you left and your ass…" he grabbed her ass greedily just then pushing her closer towards him, towards where he's already hard for her. "Your ass in that dress…it's a good thing we don't work together because I would never get anything done if you were around me all day."

None of what he's saying is an exaggeration or untruth, and she's pushed up and straddling his erection now, and she knows, know he wants her. It's a nice feeling, especially with all the anxiety her changing body has given her over the past month.

"I still thought about you all day that day" he groaned, as her hips rocked against him, as he watched her face twist in pleasure as her hips rocked against him, rubbing against the length of him, and it was perfect, after what seemed like ages.

"Probably would have just said fuck it all and would have tried to get you into bed that night" he said, his hands on her hips, guiding her as she rocked against him, and he's rock hard now, his breathing erratic and his face flushed "but you decided – god that's good – decided not to spend the night that night."

"I'm sure I would have changed my mind if – mm!- if I knew what you wanted to do with me" she answered, her eyes screwed tight, focusing of the feeling of him beneath her thighs, the feeling of her wetness already causing her underwear to slide against her in the best of ways. "I remember that day. I- I wanted it too." It wasn't a lie. She had dressed sexy that day for a reason, because she was feeling sexy, feeling sexual, but somehow, towards the end of the day, she lost her confidence, caught herself in the mirror and was convinced her face had fattened, her arms looked bigger, that she wasn't sexy, she was a _mother_ and resigned herself to her apartment for the night, feeling foolish for trying to look hot when she was pregnant.

"You left me all alone. I had to rub off to the thought of you instead" he groaned. And something about that admission does things to her, makes her feel sexy, powerful, has the last sense of self consciousness leaking out of her.

"God I need you" she moaned into his mouth between passionate kisses. She reaches down between them, fumbling with his belt, and she thinks she might just ride him just like this, on this couch, a nice quick, hard fuck would feel good, would relieve her aching parts and relieve the tension the day had brought.

But Robin clearly has other plans, because he hooks one of his arms under her ass, uses the other arm to brace against the arm of the couch, and he's rising up, holding her with him.

She lets out a little squeak, but her legs wrap around his bare torso instantly.

"Bed" he almost growls, and it's carnal and deep and _hot._ "It's been weeks since I had you, I want you in bed."

She doesn't protest, because this is good too, her arms wrap around his neck and she kisses him, as he tries to navigate an unfamiliar home to get to a bedroom.

It's not perfect - he bumps into a wall and fumbles with the door to the bedroom, but it doesn't matter as he throws her down on the bed so hard she bounces up a little, and he leans down to kiss her belly button, his hands rubbing her clit through the shorts and underwear. "God sweetheart, you're soaked" he moans, and she knows, would almost be embarrassed if he wasn't so enthusiastic about it, wasn't pulling her shorts and underwear off immediately, his head diving between her thighs, immediately licking between her folds and groaning in pleasure, sounding as he's deriving almost as much pleasure as she is from this.

He doesn't normally do this, he usually is all tender touches and slow when he's between her legs, so he had to be pretty riled up, and she thinks he's going to make her come fast, she's already far past the point of needing foreplay, and hopefully he isn't in the mood to tease her, because she didn't think she could handle it right now. But then his tongue is licking up her wetness softly, grazing over her clit with the tiniest pressure, and light, his hands are on her thighs instead of inside her, and it feels just good enough to build the ache to an unbearable level, and he knows what he's doing, knows it.

"Robin!" she says, surprised by the sternness in her voice, and he chuckles into her, his breath warm and teasing on her clit, and it's sweet torture.

"You taste amazing" he mutters into her folds as he continues to tease her sensitive flesh, and she's close, so close it's painful. Her hands are in his hair now, tugging him up to her while her hips rock against his face, trying to get any friction to alleviate the sweet pain she's experiencing from being so close for so long.

She moves her hand from his hair to her crotch, attempting to finger herself while he teases her, but it's a hopeless endeavor, and he swats her hand playfully away before she can even try.

"I need your fingers" she says, and she's panting and desperate "Please, Robin, I'm so-, mm! I'm so close I can't…please"

He gives into her at that, because he loves it when she begs, and she knows that, knows him at this point, better than she knows almost anyone. When he hooks his fingers just right, changes her tongue to firm licks, and hard sucks, the pressure she likes, she needs…she has a flash of awareness that this is different than other relationships in her past. Robin knows her better in every way, better than Graham. But also, she can't deny, better than Daniel.

If she wasn't seconds from an orgasm it would have ruined the moment. She would have thought too much, focused on what it might mean that there was someone in her life who actually knew her so well – someone besides Emma, Emma, who only achieved such status because Regina was convinced she had a super power and could read her mind. But this, if she let herself dwell on it, this was intentional. She let him in. She let him get to know her in a way she swore no one else would.

But it helped that just then, he added a finger, and she was hit with a wave of pleasure she could ride out instead of focusing on whether she was hopelessly loss to this man beyond repair. The pleasure took over, and she focused only on it.

His licks became stronger, focused directly on her clit, and when he added short, gentle sucks her body started to move of its own accord, and she cried out his name, too loud, she thought, but then there were no nearby neighbors to embarrass her, so she felt free to be as loud as she wanted.

She begged him to suck on her clit, moaning and writhing as he pressed her up and over the precipice, reveling in the feeling of Robin's own moans against her skin as he licked and sucked.

He didn't stop until she had come down from her high, until she placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled, begging him to meet her for a passionate kiss. But then it was her turn to shuffle down on the bed, looking at him coyly as he leaned back, placing both of his hands behind his head and smiling like he was getting some special treat.

Regina took him in his mouth softly, and sliding him all the way down her throat before following with a hard suck, earning a loud _Oh God Regina!_ From the top of her bed, and she fights a smile at hearing it. He's a good man, Robin is. And she loves any time she can make him happy, he deserves it, whatever happiness and pleasure she can give him. So she takes him in her mouth deeply licking with her tongue up and down his shaft, reveling in every moan and word of pleasure that comes out of his lips, even enjoying the way his hips begin to thrust, as he tells her she's the best at this, that no one has made him feel better. She keeps her pace, a hand on his shaft to help as she bobs up and down, and she knows he's close and doesn't care, he could come in her mouth right now and she'd have enjoyed doing this, enjoyed herself.

But his hands reach the back of her head, trying to hold her still, moaning again before he pleads "Regina I want- want to – god – fuck you."

She releases him and climbs on top of him, taking him inside her in one swift movement. Hearing his moans had affected her, and she was aroused and ready for him, breathing out a big puff of air as she took him all the way inside.

Robin was looking up at her, squinting a bit. "God I missed you. I missed this with you."

She began to rock up and down on him, slowly at first, a bit self conscious as he looked up at her changing body.

Robin was too far gone to focus much on any one feature of her body anyway. His hands closed tightly around her hips as she helped him move around him.

"Don't ever –mm – don't ever take this away from us again"

She resists the urge to stop and tell him that she never took away their sexual intimacy, the ball was always in his court that he took it away from her. And she could remind him that this might never happen again, but even she doesn't believe that at this point. While she's pregnant, at least, it'll happen again and again for as long as Robin wants it to happen.

Until Robin doesn't want it anymore, which is likely to happen at some point in the next few months.

It's probably a bad idea to continue this, because everytime this happens she feels all warm and close to him, as if they were a couple, and they are _not,_ because she's not made for that, not made for the intimacy and love and coupling he deserves – not anymore, but she's going to enjoy this while she can. she keeps it up moving him inside her at just the ride pace, into just the right spot, until a particular zing of pleasure has her breathing out hard, lurching forward and placing both her hands on either side of his head.

"fuck – sl-slow down, love" Robin calls out to her, fighting to keep his mind steady through this.

She doesn't want to slow down, she loves him like this when he's so close to the edge and making sexy, guttural moans while his face shows every pulse of pleasure going through his body. So she doesn't stop, keeps it up, until he puts a hand on her neck, another on her waist, and flips them, fast, so she's on her back.

He's looking down at her with a victorious smile and she can't help but laugh. He's going in and out of her at a torturous slow pace at this point, making her insides clench with the sweet ache.

"I'm not rushing this," he tells her in a throaty hushed voice, and it riles her up further, has her wanting a release now.

She whines a bit at the slow pace, bucks her hips and tries to speed up the motion, and it draws a smile out of him, far too adoring and sweet for a casual sex partner.

"Robin!" the tone of her voice annoys her. She's whining. "make me cum"

Her request has him closing his eyes, knitting his brow tight, and then he pulls off and out of her all together. She sits up, broken from her lust-induced haze, a confused look on her face until Robin quickly replaces his cock with his fingers. She lays back down.

"Too close" he explains, a little breathless. "You feel too fucking good, Regina"

She hums a response, enjoying the moving of his fingers working her up and pushing her to her next orgasm. Her breathing gets faster and she looks up when she's close.

"I-i-need you ins-inside me" she begs, and he takes out his fingers and slams a throbbing erection back inside her quickly. He doesn't go slow now, grabs both her legs and bends them at the knee over his shoulder. She likes that position, as ridiculous as it much look, it feels incredible, he feels bigger, and the angle is just right and -

"I'm—I'm going – I'm comingggg"

It had only been a few thrusts, but she had been wound tight and she had needed this for a few weeks now. It's a strong orgasm, stronger than the first, makes her see stars behind her eyes and stays with her for what seems like minutes, as her hand grips his ribs tightly, a silent plea to not stop, to not let up.

"You feel so fucking good when you come" he moans, continuing the thrusts. "Fucking incredible" and he thrusts hard inside her again "Best I've ever had"

"Me – me too" she says. It falls out of her, she's honest and vulnerable mid-orgasm, but it's true, and she can't imagine he didn't know it was true anyway. Sex like this is much more rare than romance novels or movies would lead you to believe. Of course he was the best she'd ever had.

But her words must do something to him, because he groans loudly and then she can feel his erratic thrusts, and he whispers that he's going to come, going to come inside her so hard, and all she can do is nod and tighten her grip on him as he spills inside her.

When it's over he pulls out quickly and flops beside her on the bed, pulling her into his side as soon as he lays down, next to her. She moves to her side, wraps her arm around his torso, her hand moving to grab his. And then she moved off him and pulls, trying to get him to move to his side to spoon her.

But he wants to see her face, and she's being playful, so he pulls back, with that hand, encouraging her to lay on his chest. She goes easily, a wide smile on her face.

Everything feels almost too perfect in this moment. She's in her friend's arms, and he's gentle and kind and an incredible lay, and she's having a baby with him. On the list of things she'd never thought she'd have when she lost Daniel: a child, incredible sex, and a best friend. All of which she has now.

Robin looks down at Regina as she lays on his chest, a big, cheesy grin on her face. He loves her like this, looking carefree and uninhibited. Loves the way she draws him in close, the way you can almost see how open and unguarded she is. She's even more beautiful to him in these moments, so much he almost can't stand it.

"You're happy" he notes.

She hums in agreement. "Aren't you?"

He's drawing circles on her back now, lightly, as she lays on his chest. "Do I have reason to be?" he asks playfully. When she looks up at him in a cute scowl he laughs, adding "Are you moving in with me, Regina?"

She huffs out an exaggerated sigh, laying on his back. "Yes, you big baby. I'll move in with you."

He wraps his arms around her and she lets out a laugh, then moves her head to look him in the eyes. "You are going to regret this, just you wait."

He laughs, shaking his head. She doesn't see the look of adoration on his face when he looks down at the woman laying on his chest. "How could anyone regret more time with Regina Mills?"

"I'll remind you of that after we've lived together a week. You can ask Emma. I can be…quite particular about things."

He squeezes her tight. "This is not news to me."

She laughs, pressing a kiss into his chest. "I'm really sorry, about all of this."

The unnecessary apology frustrates him to no end, because he truly regrets none of this and wishes she could understand. But instead he just holds her tighter, silently promising to be at her side through everything.

The rest of their time alone passes in the cabin, and it's healing, and intimate. He's all over her, to his credit making good on his promise to never stop wanting her _that way_ , they manage to get in a hike that morning, and it's gorgeous and beautiful, especialyl through the excited eyes of Robin, who has always loved the unspoiled outdoors. Regina seems to genuinely enjoy herself and forget about the stress that her mother has caused. The trip back home is spent planning how they will merge their two lives under one roof, where Regina's furniture will go, what they will do with two sets of dishes, and who has the better set of pots and pans.

It's a new chapter she's starting, she realizes. But not a bad one.


End file.
